Definition

1. Verb (intransitive):

   • To cause persistent irritation, resentment, or emotional pain. It describes a feeling or memory that continues to annoy or upset someone over time.
   • To fester or cause a lingering sense of hurt or anger.

2. Verb (transitive):

   • To irritate or embitter someone; to cause someone to feel resentful or angry in a persistent way.

Usage

• The verb rankle is used to describe a feeling, memory, insult, or injustice that continues to cause emotional distress long after the initial event.
• It often appears with prepositions like in, with, or at (e.g., , ).
• It can be used both with the feeling as the subject (intransitive: "The memory rankles.") or with a person as the object (transitive: "His comment rankled her.").

Examples

• Intransitive use:

  • The unfair criticism continued to rankle for weeks.
  • A sense of betrayal rankled in his heart long after the argument.

• Transitive use:

  • Her dismissive tone rankled him deeply.
  • The defeat rankled the team, fueling their desire for revenge.

Advanced Usage

• "to rankle with someone": To be a source of persistent annoyance or resentment for a specific person.
  • The manager's favoritism rankled with the more experienced employees.
• "to rankle at something": To feel persistent irritation about a specific thing.
  • She still rankles at the thought of the missed opportunity.

Variants and Related Words

• Rankling (adjective/noun): Causing or characterized by persistent irritation.
  • He couldn't forget the rankling injustice.
• Rankled (adjective): Describing the state of being irritated or resentful.
  • She had a rankled expression after the meeting.

Synonyms

• Fester: To become progressively more bitter or hostile.
• Irk: To irritate or annoy.
• Chafe: To feel or cause annoyance.
• Gall: To vex or irritate greatly.

Related Phrases

• To stick in one's craw: To be difficult to accept and therefore a source of ongoing irritation (idiom with similar meaning).
  • The unfair ruling stuck in his craw for years.

Notes on Meaning

• The core meaning of rankle involves a slow, persistent, and often growing irritation, unlike a momentary annoyance. It implies a wound to one's pride or sense of justice that does not heal quickly.
• Its original, now largely obsolete, meaning related to a physical sore or festering wound, which metaphorically informs its modern emotional usage.

Verb

1. gnaw into; make resentful or angry
   • The injustice rankled her
   • his resentment festered