Vex vs Rankle - What's the difference?
vex | rankle | Related terms |
To trouble aggressively, to harass.
* 1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , Acts XII:
To annoy, irritate.
To cause (mental) suffering to; to distress.
(rare) To twist, to weave.
* Dryden
(obsolete) To be irritated; to fret.
To toss back and forth; to agitate; to disquiet.
* Alexander Pope
(intransitive) To cause irritation or deep bitterness.
To fester.
* Rowe
* Burke
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.
Vex is a related term of rankle.
As a noun vex
is (space|esa).As a verb rankle is
(intransitive) to cause irritation or deep bitterness.vex
English
Verb
(es)- In that tyme Herode the kynge layed hondes on certayne of the congregacion, to vexe them.
- Billy's professor was vexed by his continued failure to improve his grades.
- some English wool, vexed in a Belgian loom
- (Chapman)
- White curl the waves, and the vexed ocean roars.
Quotations
* (English Citations of "vex")Synonyms
* (to annoy) agitate, irritate * (to cause mental suffering) afflict, tormentDerived terms
* vexed * vexer * vexingly * vexation * vexatiousrankle
English
Verb
(rankl)- a splinter rankles in the flesh
- a malady that burns and rankles inward
- 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.