1
as in steams
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 angers
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 rankles
This way of peering at screen culture from an inexact distance, which also comes up in a scolding scene where Ethan scrolls aimlessly through something like TikTok, rankles in a play that is otherwise so precise about physical time and space.
—
Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 31 Oct. 2025
This rankles some of her fans, particularly a stalker who begins murdering those boosting her acting ambitions.
—Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 30 Oct. 2025
What rankles even more about 2025 is that, in other late-season swoons, the Mets have at least been tracked down by an adversary.
—Tim Britton, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2025
Omar’s growing outrage, especially when precious time is lost because of jammed phone lines, troubling silences and false assumptions, rankles Mahdi, the most overstretched of anyone at the call center.
—Sheri Linden, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2025
That decision still rankles some Republicans, years later.
—Alexander Bolton, The Hill, 18 Aug. 2025
But he's paired with Travis (Davidson), whose cheery demeanor increasingly rankles until their truck is hijacked and the two have to bond to survive.
—Marco Della Cava, USA Today, 6 Aug. 2025
Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 31 Oct. 2025
This rankles some of her fans, particularly a stalker who begins murdering those boosting her acting ambitions.
—Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 30 Oct. 2025
What rankles even more about 2025 is that, in other late-season swoons, the Mets have at least been tracked down by an adversary.
—Tim Britton, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2025
Omar’s growing outrage, especially when precious time is lost because of jammed phone lines, troubling silences and false assumptions, rankles Mahdi, the most overstretched of anyone at the call center.
—Sheri Linden, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2025
That decision still rankles some Republicans, years later.
—Alexander Bolton, The Hill, 18 Aug. 2025
But he's paired with Travis (Davidson), whose cheery demeanor increasingly rankles until their truck is hijacked and the two have to bond to survive.
—Marco Della Cava, USA Today, 6 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rankles
Verb
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Humidity often corrodes cables and steams camera lenses.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
3 Nov. 2025
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The clip then smash-cuts to a scene of Bruce as a child listening to his parents fight in the next room, and we’re meant to understand that the joy and power that steams off of the stage is a cure for the pain of childhood wounds.—
Sadie Sartini Garner,
Pitchfork,
24 Oct. 2025
Verb
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And nothing angers the Survivor gods more than reality TV hubris.—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
2 Oct. 2025
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Kirk assassination angers and unsettles leaders, residents The assassination of Kirk, which happened in front of hundreds of people and was captured on video and widely circulated on social media, has in particular rattled the nation and drawn condemnation from across the political spectrum.—
Mark Vancleave,
Twin Cities,
13 Sep. 2025
Verb
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As the battle rages on at Montecalvo, a smaller battle, though no less consequential, is unfolding at Vilgefortz’s secret lair.—
Scott Meslow,
Vulture,
30 Oct. 2025
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As Hurricane Melissa rages across Jamaica, even those reporting the news have been struck by the severity of the storm that has officially been marked a category 5 — the highest category on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.—
Mekishana Pierre,
Entertainment Weekly,
28 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Investigative reporting is bad enough; often what really infuriates him is jokes.—
David Remnick,
New Yorker,
19 Sep. 2025
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Elsewhere, the photo of Cartman is a reference to his reaction of Clyde’s incendiary new podcast that has a right wing theme that infuriates the perpetual instigator.—
Tim Lammers,
Forbes.com,
7 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Longer-term, Indomo seeks to tackle conditions including keloids, boils and more via its ClearPen technology.—
Noor Lobad,
Footwear News,
29 Oct. 2025
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Gretchen is just as bad as Tamra, two boils on the same hairy ass.—
Brian Moylan,
Vulture,
24 Oct. 2025
Verb
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While this violation enrages the village’s women, the men who make up the Panchayat (village council) try and fail to cast her out of town.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
30 Oct. 2025
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The funniest part to me is that amid this violence — as someone is literally trying to kill him — the thing that enrages Beom-mo the most is when his wife’s top starts to slip down.—
Patrick Brzeski,
HollywoodReporter,
10 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Saito burns about 7,000 calories per day and has lost 13 pounds so far.—
Kelly Meyerhofer,
jsonline.com,
4 Nov. 2025
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Unlike conventional scramjets that rely on kerosene, SPARTAN burns hydrogen, producing zero carbon emissions while enabling reusable, low-maintenance hypersonic flight.—
Kapil Kajal,
Interesting Engineering,
3 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Ask yourself what annoys you specifically about that behavior, Davis says.—
NPR,
NPR,
28 Oct. 2025
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There are days when my running annoys my wife, my children, or my colleagues.—
Nicholas Thompson,
The Atlantic,
23 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Rankles.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rankles. Accessed 19 Nov. 2025.
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