1
as in to steam
to be excited or emotionally stirred up with anger
that kind of rude treatment from a young person makes me rankle
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in to infuriate
to make angry
it rankles me when some schools can't even afford paper and pencils for the students
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of rankle
That rankled those who have reported AHIs, who have both felt sidelined by the agency and believe they were targeted in an attack.
—
Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill, 10 Jan. 2025
The claim that Meta’s fact-checking program was politically biased, or amounted to censorship, rankled many of the fact-checkers that had worked with Meta and spoke with Forbes.
—Iain Martin, Forbes, 7 Jan. 2025
But regularly suspending it rankles genuine fiscal conservatives...
—Gord Magill, Newsweek, 20 Dec. 2024
One part of Harris’ platform particularly rankled Sasse.
—Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 1 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for rankle 
Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill, 10 Jan. 2025
The claim that Meta’s fact-checking program was politically biased, or amounted to censorship, rankled many of the fact-checkers that had worked with Meta and spoke with Forbes.
—Iain Martin, Forbes, 7 Jan. 2025
But regularly suspending it rankles genuine fiscal conservatives...
—Gord Magill, Newsweek, 20 Dec. 2024
One part of Harris’ platform particularly rankled Sasse.
—Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 1 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for rankle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rankle
Verb
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The hotel has a large main pool and a steaming hot tub, lovely lawns where guests can put their feet up and enjoy a glass of wine, a gurgling fountain, and, of course, a chicken coop.—
Maya Kachroo-Levine,
Travel + Leisure,
10 Feb. 2025
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Dumpling Week Friday-Feb. 15 Dozens of restaurants participate in this annual event celebrating dough stuffed with sweet and savory fillings, served steamed or fried.—
Meira Gebel,
Axios,
5 Feb. 2025
Verb
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The final minutes of Arizona’s 81-72 victory in Tempe on Saturday afternoon featured one head-butt, two ejections, ASU players in the locker room before the final buzzer and infuriated coach Bobby Hurley refusing to shake hands with his counterpart, Tommy Lloyd.—
Jon Wilner,
The Mercury News,
3 Feb. 2025
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Its stock price tumbled, infuriating shareholders and catching the attention of regulators concerned about a lack of disclosure.—
Daisuke Wakabayashi,
New York Times,
22 Jan. 2025
Verb
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Storms raged at last year’s festival, dampening the fun.—
Racquel Bazos,
Baltimore Sun,
14 Feb. 2025
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The SpaceX billionaire also raged against U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, who issued a ruling last week blocking DOGE from getting into the Treasury's payment system, which contains sensitive information about American taxpayers' identities, including bank account and Social Security numbers.—
Dan Perry,
Newsweek,
13 Feb. 2025
Verb
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The former Republican majority leader has angered some of Trump's supporters for votes and views that conflict with the president's.—
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy,
USA TODAY,
14 Feb. 2025
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Further confusing and angering fans has been the way the team has seemingly taken shots at Dončić's work ethic and conditioning.—
Rohan Nadkarni,
NBC News,
13 Feb. 2025
Verb
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The pair, who met as college undergrads, both burned with idealism and recognized their privilege could be leveraged for a game-changing idea.—
Carole Horst,
Variety,
13 Sep. 2023
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The Ellen MacArthur Foundation promotes circular fashion and says that, in the United States, an amount of clothing equal to a garbage truck is ferried to landfills or burned every second.—
Neeti Mehra,
Treehugger,
13 Sep. 2023
Verb
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The big picture: Caught off guard by a sudden announcement to build the prison there, many Franklin County residents are enraged by the state's seeming absence of transparency on the project.—
Worth Sparkman,
Axios,
10 Feb. 2025
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Gail is enraged to learn that she’s being passed over for promotion when Marilee retires at the end of the year.—
Heller McAlpin,
The Christian Science Monitor,
10 Feb. 2025
Verb
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But the performance was also filled with less obvious symbolism and Easter eggs, some of which tied into a video game theme and a few of which may get Drake's blood boiling even further.—
Taijuan Moorman,
USA TODAY,
11 Feb. 2025
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Bring to a boil over medium-high; boil, stirring occasionally, until liquid has reduced by two-thirds, about 4 minutes.—
Jasmine Smith,
Southern Living,
8 Feb. 2025
Verb
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At first, he is annoyed by mundane details like listening to the same song or ordering the same breakfast.—
Contributed Content,
Twin Cities,
7 Feb. 2025
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Though visibly annoyed, the driver asked the OP to move.—
David Faris,
Newsweek,
4 Feb. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near rankle
Cite this Entry
“Rankle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rankle. Accessed 20 Feb. 2025.
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