rankle

1. (transitive or intransitive) To cause irritation, bitterness or acrimony.Examples: "My colleague's gratuitous criticism still rankles with me."; "[…] 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. […]"; "1894, Ivan Dexter, Talmud: A Strange Narrative of Central Australia, published in serial form in Port Adelaide News and Lefevre's Peninsula Advertiser (SA), Chapter XX, http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks16/1600641.txt I stood trembling with agony for the spear was rankling in the wound."Synonyms: embitter, irritateintransitivetransitive

2. (intransitive) To fester.Examples: "a splinter rankles in the flesh"; "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 […]"; "a malady that burns and rankles inward"intransitive