rancorous
/ˈraŋk(ə)rəs
/adjective
Characterized by bitterness or resentment: sixteen miserable months of rancorous disputes a rancorous debate...
- It seems to be aiming for a modern Catcher in the Rye with its sardonic, rancorous, troubled kid character.
- He would often describe his wartime experiences in caustic, funny terms that would turn bitter and rancorous.
- There were rancorous battles over pronunciation.
Synonyms
bitter, spiteful, hateful, resentful, acrimonious, malicious, malevolent, malign, malignant, hostile, antipathetic, venomous, poisonous, vindictive, evil-intentioned, ill-natured, baleful, vengeful, vitriolic, virulent, pernicious, mean, nasty
informal bitchy, catty
literary malefic, maleficent
Derivatives
rancorously
- In the 1970s, his parents moved from the country's eastern region to settle in Camden, then separated rancorously when he was six.
- Among those critics, none has been more rancorously unreflective the former Health Secretary.
- Viewers often end up thinking that there is no solution to the problem because the two sides are so rancorously polarised.