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Rankle vs Ankle - What's the difference?

rankle | ankle |

As verbs the difference between rankle and ankle

is that rankle is (intransitive) to cause irritation or deep bitterness while ankle is (us|slang) to walk.

As a noun ankle is

the skeletal joint which connects the foot with the leg; the uppermost portion of the foot and lowermost portion of the leg, which contain this skeletal joint.

rankle

English

Verb

(rankl)
  • (intransitive) To cause irritation or deep bitterness.
  • To fester.
    • a splinter rankles in the flesh
  • * Rowe
    • a malady that burns and rankles inward
  • * Burke
    • This would have left a rankling wound in the hearts of the people.

    Quotations

    * 1590 — , Book I, Canto X *: But yet the cause and root of all his ill,
    Inward corruption and infected sin,
    Not purg'd nor heald, behind remained still,
    And festring sore did rankle yet within, * 1850 — , chapter XIV *: You are beside him, sleeping and waking. You search his thoughts. You burrow and rankle in his heart! * 1890 — , chapter IX *: The close proximity of the two countries, the relative positions of their ports, made the naval situation particularly strong; and the alliance which was dictated by sound policy, by family ties, and by just fear of England's sea power, was further assured to France by recent and still existing injuries that must continue to rankle with Spain. Gibraltar, Minorca, and Florida were still in the hands of England; no Spaniard could be easy till this reproach was wiped out.

    Synonyms

    * (to cause irritation) embitter, irritate * (to fester) fester

    Anagrams

    *

    ankle

    English

    Alternative forms

    * ancle (obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The skeletal joint which connects the foot with the leg; the uppermost portion of the foot and lowermost portion of the leg, which contain this skeletal joint.

    • Derived terms

    * ankle-biter * ankle slapper * ankle walker * cankle * show ankle

    Verb

    (ankl)
  • (US, slang) To walk.
  • * 2009 , Thomas Pynchon, Inherent Vice , Vintage 2010, p. 275:
    • After a while he got up and ankled his way down the corridor and met Penny coming out of the toilet.
  • (cycling) To cyclically angle the foot at the ankle while pedaling, to maximize the amount of work applied to the pedal during each revolution.