Word.ws English Dictionary

rancor

Syllables: ran·cor/ˈɹæ̞ŋkə//ˈɹæ̝ŋkɚ/

rancor noun: a feeling of long-lasting ire for another, sometimes to the point of hatred, over a perceived wrongdoing; bitterness.

Noun

rancor (countable and uncountable, plural rancors)

  1. (US) A feeling of long-lasting ire for another, sometimes to the point of hatred, over a perceived wrongdoing; bitterness.
    • I could almost see the rancor in his eyes when he challenged me to a fight.
  2. (US, rare) Rancidity, rankness.

Verb

rancor (third-person singular simple present rancors, present participle rancoring, simple past and past participle rancored)

  1. (US, archaic) To rankle or fester.

rancor meaning in Bengali and Arabic

rancor in Bengali

দীর্ঘস্থায়ী তিক্ততা, বিদ্বেষ

rancor in Arabic

the deepest malignity or spite
حِقْد ḥiqd

Synonyms of rancor

All synonyms of rancor

Forms of rancor

Noun
pluralrancors
alternative formrancour
Verb
third-person singular presentrancors
present participlerancoring
past participlerancored
pastrancored

Origin of rancor

First attested in the 13th century as Middle English rancour, from Old French rancor, from Latin rancor (“rancidity, grudge, rancor”), from ranceō (“to be rotten or putrid”), from which also English rancid.

Words formed from rancor

Words that rhyme with rancor

6 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about rancor

What does rancor mean?
Rancor means a feeling of long-lasting ire for another, sometimes to the point of hatred, over a perceived wrongdoing; bitterness.
What is rancor in Bengali?
Rancor in Bengali is দীর্ঘস্থায়ী তিক্ততা, বিদ্বেষ. See Rancor meaning in Bengali.
What part of speech is rancor?
Rancor can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce rancor?
Rancor is pronounced /ˈɹæ̞ŋkə/ (UK).
What is the plural of rancor?
The plural of rancor is rancors.

Words near rancor in the dictionary

  1. ranciéite
  2. ranck
  3. rancked
  4. rancking
  5. rancks
  6. rancor
  7. rancored
  8. rancoring
  9. rancorless
  10. rancorous
  11. rancorously

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rancor (page history and authors); rancor (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-rancor.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vininn126-rancour.wav.

Cite this entry: “rancor.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rancor. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.