rankling 1 of 2

adjective

Definition of ranklingnext
as in irritating
causing annoyance for some air travelers, the most rankling aspect of the security measures seems to be the restrictions regarding carry-on baggage

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

rankling

2 of 2

verb

present participle of rankle
1
as in raging
to be excited or emotionally stirred up with anger that kind of rude treatment from a young person makes me rankle

Synonyms & Similar Words
2
as in angering
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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for rankling
  1. irritating
  2. raging
  3. angering
  4. annoying
  5. frustrating
  6. burning
  7. disturbing
  8. seething
Adjective
  • There is nothing more irritating to enthusiasts than when the mainstream tries to portray their niche world and gets it wrong.
    — Matt Shaw, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2025
  • Most formulas are either too heavy, too drying, or too irritating.
    — Tira Urquhart, Essence, 25 Feb. 2025
Definition of irritating
Verb
  • Then the truck flipped over, sending the workers into the raging water.
    — Travis Loller, Los Angeles Times, 26 Dec. 2024
  • Here is the list of fighters that gained immortality as a result of this raging inferno.
    — Interesting Engineering, Interesting Engineering, 20 Dec. 2024
Definition of raging
Verb
  • Around 10 individuals ran onto the court waving Palestinian flags, angering hundreds of attendees from the French Jewish community cheering for the Israeli team.
    — Bradford Betz, Fox News, 19 Dec. 2024
  • With some true detective work, Flueger quickly discovers that pigeons are trying to claim squatter rights a bit too close higher up, angering the furry felines.
    — Demetrius Patterson, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Oct. 2024
Definition of angering
Adjective
  • But unexpected allies and converts to the team’s cause appear, too: passengers awaiting a flight to Kabul, an American technology reporter, maybe even that annoying bakery owner.
    — Lisa Kennedy, Variety, 7 Mar. 2025
  • The second week My usual redness around my cheeks had started to fade, and the annoying pimple that had been brewing on my cheek seemed to back off without its usual dramatic entrance.
    — Larry Stansbury, Essence, 7 Mar. 2025
Definition of annoying
Adjective
  • For Embiid, this is another frustrating chapter in an otherwise brilliant but injury-plagued career.
    — Jesse Pines, Forbes, 11 Mar. 2025
  • Very few severe crashes in Sacramento are followed by an arrest, and several survivors of crashes have previously said that soft or nonexistent charges were frustrating and demeaning.
    — Ariane Lange, Sacramento Bee, 11 Mar. 2025
Definition of frustrating
Verb
  • The company built a retail and residential complex around the county’s Coconut Grove Metrorail station, and Martin also is pitching an incinerator site in western Miami-Dade as an alternative to the Levine Cava plan to rebuild the trash-burning facility in Doral.
    — Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald, 4 Jan. 2025
  • Nearby sits a small wood-burning stove, which should be sufficient to heat the home.
    — Adam Williams, New Atlas, 3 Jan. 2025
Definition of burning
Adjective
  • While no human-affecting viruses have been revived yet, the fact that ancient microbes can persist in a viable state raises a disturbing possibility: what else is hidden in the deep freeze, waiting to wake up?
    — Scott Travers, Forbes, 16 Mar. 2025
  • The possibility of losing Miami Beach's only art house cinema is disturbing to Tabsch, a filmmaker whose 2018 documentary The Last Resort, was about Miami Beach's Jewish community in the 1970s.
    — Mandalit del Barco, NPR, 15 Mar. 2025
Definition of disturbing
Verb
  • Coursing through all of these elements is a seething anger at authoritarianism.
    — Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times, 26 Dec. 2024
  • Cox and his team were brought in by a handful of wealthy Colorado ranch owners who were still seething over the ballot measure to introduce wolves that passed in 2020 by less than one percent.
    — Chris Dorsey, Forbes, 18 Dec. 2024
Definition of seething
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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“Rankling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rankling. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.

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