• Today's Word

Rancer

🔊 Listen to the word Rancor

RANG-ker

Definition

(noun) Deep, persistent bitterness or resentment.

Example

Years after their falling-out, a quiet rancor still lingered between them.

Word Origin

From Latin rancere, meaning “to stink” or “be rotten,” echoing the idea of bitterness that festers over time.

Fun Fact

Unlike anger, which burns hot and fast, rancor is slow, cold, and enduring. Authors often use it to describe feuds that span generations—think of the Hatfields and McCoys—or tensions that simmer beneath polite conversation. In psychology, rancor is linked to rumination: resentment that grows stronger the more it is revisited, like a wound that never fully closes.