rankle
verb (used without object)
(of unpleasant feelings, experiences, etc.) to continue to cause keen irritation or bitter resentment within the mind; fester; be painful.
rankled
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past participleof rankle.past participle
A verb form used in perfect and passive verb constructions and that can also function as a modifier.
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past tense formof rankle.past tense
Used to describe completed actions or previous habitual actions.
rankleverb (used without object)(of unpleasant feelings, experiences, etc.) to continue to cause keen irritation or bitter resentment within the mind; fester; be painful.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In the first few weeks of the program, Nvidia rankled some of its potential partners with the extent of control it sought, some of the people familiar with the matter said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
We lead today with new reporting on the unraveling of Situational Awareness, detailing how its wunderkind founder Leopold Aschenbrenner forged close ties with tech’s top players even as he rankled some of his own bosses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
What really rankled, they said, was that there had been no consultation about placing migrants at the base – or in the town.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
That rankled politicians in Berlin and executives at Airbus, who feared being squeezed out of contracts.
From Barron's ● Jun. 10, 2026
It further rankled the westerners that the prejudices of the East overwhelmingly prevailed in the national press, which often seemed to operate on the assumption that anything west of the Rockies was China.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
