Synonyms of the word

rankle

• v. (transitive, intransitive) To cause irritation or deep bitterness.
• v. (intransitive) To fester.

annoy

• v. (transitive) To disturb or irritate, especially by continued or repeated acts; to bother with unpleasant…
• v. (intransitive) To do something to upset or anger someone; to be troublesome.
• v. (transitive) To molest; to harm; to injure.
• n. (now rare, literary) A feeling of discomfort or vexation caused by what one dislikes.
• n. (now rare, literary) That which causes such a feeling.

bother

• v. (transitive) To annoy, to disturb, to irritate.
• v. (intransitive) To feel care or anxiety; to make or take trouble; to be troublesome.
• v. (intransitive) To do something which is of negligible inconvenience.
• n. Fuss, ado.
• n. Trouble, inconvenience.
• interj. A mild expression of annoyance.

chafe

• n. Heat excited by friction.
• n. Injury or wear caused by friction.
• n. Vexation; irritation of mind; rage.
• n. (archaic) An expression of opinionated conflict.
• v. (transitive) To excite heat in by friction; to rub in order to stimulate and make warm.
• v. (transitive) To excite passion or anger in; to fret; to irritate.
• v. (transitive) To fret and wear by rubbing.
• v. (intransitive) To rub; to come together so as to wear by rubbing; to wear by friction.
• v. (intransitive) To be worn by rubbing.
• v. (intransitive) To have a feeling of vexation; to be vexed; to fret; to be irritated.

devil

• n. (theology) A creature of hell.
• n. (theology) (the devil or the Devil) The chief devil; Satan.
• n. The bad part of the conscience; the opposite to the angel.
• n. A wicked or naughty person, or one who harbors reckless, spirited energy, especially in a mischievous…
• n. A thing that is awkward or difficult to understand or do.
• n. (euphemistically, with an article, as an intensifier) Hell.
• n. A person, especially a man; used to express a particular opinion of him, usually in the phrases poor devil…
• n. A dust devil.
• n. (religion, Christian Science) An evil or erring entity.
• n. (dialectal, in compounds) A barren, unproductive and unused area.
• n. (cooking) A dish, as a bone with the meat, broiled and excessively peppered; a grill with Cayenne pepper.
• n. A machine for tearing or cutting rags, cotton, etc.
• n. A Tasmanian devil.
• n. (cycling, slang) An endurance event where riders who fall behind are periodically eliminated.
• v. To make like a devil; to invest with the character of a devil.
• v. To annoy or bother; to bedevil.
• v. To work as a ‘devil’; to work for a lawyer or writer without fee or recognition.
• v. To grill with cayenne pepper; to season highly in cooking, as with pepper.
• v. To finely grind cooked ham or other meat with spices and condiments.
• v. To prepare a sidedish of shelled halved boiled eggs to whose extracted yolks are added condiments and…

fret

• v. (transitive, obsolete/poetic) To devour, consume; eat.
• v. (transitive and intransitive) To gnaw, consume, eat away.
• v. (intransitive) To be worn away; to chafe; to fray.
• v. (transitive) To cut through with fretsaw, create fretwork.
• v. (transitive) To chafe or irritate; to worry.
• v. (intransitive) To worry or be anxious.
• v. To be vexed; to be chafed or irritated; to be angry; to utter peevish expressions.
• v. To make rough, agitate, or disturb; to cause to ripple.
• v. To be agitated; to be in violent commotion; to rankle.
• v. (music) To press down the string behind a fret.
• n. The agitation of the surface of a fluid by fermentation or other cause; a rippling on the surface of water.
• n. Agitation of mind marked by complaint and impatience; disturbance of temper; irritation.
• n. Herpes; tetter.
• n. (mining, in the plural) The worn sides of river banks, where ores, or stones containing them, accumulate…
• n. (music) One of the pieces of metal/wood/plastic across the neck of a guitar or other musical instrument…
• n. An ornamental pattern consisting of repeated vertical and horizontal lines (often in relief).
• n. (heraldry) A saltire interlaced with a mascle.
• v. To ornament with raised work; tovariegate; to diversify.
• n. A strait; channel.
• n. (Northumbria) A fog or mist at sea or coming inland from the sea.

grate

• n. A horizontal metal grill through which water, ash, or small objects can fall, while larger objects cannot.
• n. A frame or bed, or kind of basket, of iron bars, for holding fuel while burning.
• v. (transitive) To furnish with grates; to protect with a grating or crossbars.
• v. (transitive, cooking) To shred things, usually foodstuffs, by rubbing across a grater.
• v. (intransitive) To rub against, making a (usually unpleasant) squeaking sound.
• v. (by extension, intransitive) To grate on one’s nerves; to irritate or annoy.
• v. (intransitive) To make an unpleasant rasping sound.
• v. (by extension, transitive, obsolete) To annoy.
• adj. (obsolete) Serving to gratify; agreeable.

gravel

• n. (uncountable) Small fragments of rock, used for laying on the beds of roads and railroads, and as ballast.
• n. A type or grade of small rocks, differentiated by mineral type, size range, or other characteristics.
• n. (uncountable, geology) A particle from 2 to 64 mm in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.
• n. (uncountable, archaic) Kidney stones; a deposit of small calculous concretions in the kidneys and the…
• v. (transitive) To apply a layer of gravel to the surface of a road, etc.
• v. To puzzle or annoy.
• v. To run (as a ship) upon the gravel or beach; to run aground; to cause to stick fast in gravel or sand.
• v. To check or stop; to embarrass; to perplex.
• v. To hurt or lame (a horse) by gravel lodged between the shoe and foot.

irritate

• v. (transitive) To provoke impatience, anger, or displeasure.
• v. (transitive) To introduce irritability or irritation in.
• v. (intransitive) To cause or induce displeasure or irritation.
• v. (transitive) To induce pain in (all or part of a body or organism).
• v. (obsolete) To render null and void.

nark

• n. (Britain, slang) A police spy or informer.
• n. (Australia, slang) An unpleasant person, especially one who makes things difficult for others; a spoilsport.
• v. (transitive, thieves' cant) To watch; to observe.
• v. (intransitive, slang) To serve or behave as a spy or informer.
• v. (transitive, slang) To annoy or irritate.
• v. (intransitive, slang) To complain.
• v. (transitive, slang, often imperative) To stop.
• n. Alternative form of narc (narcotics officer).

nettle

• n. Any plant, the foliage of which is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
• n. Certain plants that have spines or prickles.
• n. Certain non-stinging plants, mostly in the family Lamiaceae, that resemble the species of Urtica.
• n. Loosely, anything which causes a similarly stinging rash, such as a jellyfish or sea nettle.
• v. (literally) Of the nettle plant and similar physical causes, to sting causing a rash in someone.
• v. (figuratively) To pique, irritate, vex or provoke someone.

rag

• n. (in the plural) Tattered clothes.
• n. A piece of old cloth; a tattered piece of cloth; a shred, a tatter.
• n. A shabby, beggarly fellow; a ragamuffin.
• n. A ragged edge in metalworking.
• n. (nautical, slang) A sail, or any piece of canvas.
• n. (slang, pejorative) A newspaper, magazine.
• n. (poker) A poor, low-ranking kicker.
• v. (intransitive) To become tattered.
• n. A coarse kind of rock, somewhat cellular in texture; ragstone.
• v. To break (ore) into lumps for sorting.
• v. To cut or dress roughly, as a grindstone.
• v. To scold or rail at; to rate; to tease; to torment; to banter.
• v. (Britain slang) To drive a car or another vehicle in a hard, fast or unsympathetic manner.
• v. To tease or torment, especially at a university; to bully, to haze.
• v. (music, obsolete) To add syncopation (to a tune) and thereby make it appropriate for a ragtime song.
• n. (dated) A prank or practical joke.
• n. (Britain, Ireland) A society run by university students for the purpose of charitable fundraising.
• n. (obsolete, US) An informal dance party featuring music played by African-American string bands.
• n. A ragtime song, dance or piece of music.
• v. (transitive, informal) To play or compose (a piece, melody, etc.) in syncopated time.
• v. (intransitive, informal) To dance to ragtime music.

rile

• v. to make angry.
• v. to stir or move from a state of calm or order.

vex

• v. (transitive, now rare) To trouble aggressively, to harass.
• v. (transitive) To annoy, irritate.
• v. (transitive) To cause (mental) suffering to; to distress.
• v. (transitive, rare) To twist, to weave.
• v. (intransitive, obsolete) To be irritated; to fret.
• v. (transitive) To toss back and forth; to agitate; to disquiet.