rankle
Americanverb (used without object)
-
rankles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
rankled,
past participle, past
-
rankling
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
rankles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
rankled,
past participle, past
-
rankling
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
ranklesimple
-
ranklessimple
-
have rankledperfect
-
has rankledperfect
-
am ranklingprogressive
-
are ranklingprogressive
-
is ranklingprogressive
-
have been ranklingperfect progressive
-
has been ranklingperfect progressive
Past
-
rankledsimple
-
had rankledperfect
-
was ranklingprogressive
-
were ranklingprogressive
-
had been ranklingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of rankle
1250–1300; Middle English ranclen < Middle French rancler, Old French raoncler, variant of draoncler to fester, derivative of draoncle a sore < Late Latin dracunculus small serpent, diminutive of Latin dracō serpent; see dragon, carbuncle
Explanation
Rankle is a cranky-sounding verb that means to eat away at or aggravate to the point of causing anger. If you want to rankle a cat, try splashing it with water and then putting it in the bathtub. Rankle goes back to the French verb rancler, which comes from an old word for "festering sore," which paints a pretty negative picture of what it means to rankle. A sore that festers gets worse and worse, or more infected, and if you rankle someone, they will get more and more angry. "Ankle" rhymes with rankle, and if you were to prank a friend and hold him by his ankles over a trash can every day for a week, it would definitely rankle him.
Vocabulary lists containing rankle
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Beowulf
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
The defeat and the nature of it will rankle, especially because she was considered a serious challenger for the title.
From Barron's ● Jan. 28, 2026
Tax experts said there are other options that are easier to implement and less likely to rankle voters.
From Salon ● Feb. 3, 2025
Winter has been unafraid to rankle city and county officials as she has criticized the status quo.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2024
Even the most powerful state can push things too far and rankle too many rivals.
From Slate ● Jan. 16, 2024
This time “the stare” began to rankle him.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
Such talk rankles some members of the positive camp.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
It still rankles, apparently: At that “legal forum” in May 2025 in St. Petersburg, Konstantin Chuychenko, the Russian minister of justice held forth on the subject.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
What rankles more is his only international T20 appearance three weeks later, when Ireland plundered 52 from his four overs.
From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2026
Davies has played against England three times, including a 2-1 loss at Euro 2016 - a result that still rankles.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2025
Then you still loved the man who——" "Love either flows away like water, or it rankles in a festering heart and changes into gall.
From The Pobratim A Slav Novel by P. Jones
But he didn’t get direct access to President John F. Kennedy—an absurd demand, of course—and this rankled with him.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 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
The insularity of the “60 Minutes” operation — which has its own suite of offices across the street from the main headquarters of CBS News — has rankled the network’s executives in the past.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2026
Closing arguments centered heavily on Altman's integrity and behind-the-scenes maneuvering that rankled colleagues.
From Barron's ● May 18, 2026
What rankled most was the treaty’s humiliating “war guilt” clause, placing the blame entirely at Germany’s feet.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
The military warning—first reported in the Washington Post, then confirmed in the New York Times—must be particularly rankling.
From Slate ● Feb. 24, 2026
Cheap replicas are flooding the market for the old-timey pens, rankling fans of a product long known for steep prices and a user base dominated by royalty, politicians and wealthy elites.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2025
Those shifts made it harder for many apps to target advertising to users, rankling tech executives including Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.
From New York Times ● Nov. 28, 2022
Bobo’s only misstep other than calling In-N-Out “overrated,” rankling fans of the wildly popular burger chain, came in the season opener.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2022
When he did find some time to visit me, he was very preoccupied, and I could feel him rankling with anger and with inactivity, but he tried hard to hide it.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
