rub salt in the wound
rub salt in the wound verb: to aggravate or exacerbate a physical or emotional injury.
Verb
rub salt in the wound (third-person singular simple present rubs salt in the wound, present participle rubbing salt in the wound, simple past and past participle rubbed salt in the wound)
- To aggravate or exacerbate a physical or emotional injury.
- To rub further salt into the wound, the narrow-gauge locomotives and rolling stock received the new corporate blue livery and double arrows logo.2023 January 11, Richard Foster, “British Rail's weirdest railways...: Vale of Rheidol”, in RAIL, number 974, page 47
rub salt in the wound meaning in Hindi, Marathi and Bengali
rub salt in the wound in Hindi
- to make an injury feel worse
- जले पर नमक छिड़कना jale par namak chiṛaknā
rub salt in the wound in Marathi
- to make an injury feel worse
- जखमेवर मिठ चोळणे jakhmevar miṭh coḷṇe
rub salt in the wound in Bengali
- to make an injury feel worse
- কাটা ঘায়ে নুনের ছিটে kaṭa ghaẏe nuner chiṭe
Synonyms of rub salt in the wound
- add insult to injury
- kick someone when they are down
- twist the knife
- rub it in
- add fuel to the fire
- cap it all off
- fan the flames
- make matters worse
- throw gasoline on the fire
- With malice
5 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of rub salt in the wound
| third-person singular present | rubs salt in the wound |
|---|---|
| present participle | rubbing salt in the wound |
| past participle | rubbed salt in the wound |
| past | rubbed salt in the wound |
| alternative form | rub salt in someone's wounds |
| alternative form | rub salt into the wound |
| alternative form | rub salt into the wounds |
Origin of rub salt in the wound
Derived from the stinging sensation of salt deliberately being rubbed into an open, bleeding wound.
Words formed from rub salt in the wound
Questions about rub salt in the wound
- What does rub salt in the wound mean?
- Rub salt in the wound means to aggravate or exacerbate a physical or emotional injury.
- What is rub salt in the wound in Hindi?
- Rub salt in the wound in Hindi is जले पर नमक छिड़कना (jale par namak chiṛaknā). See Rub salt in the wound meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is rub salt in the wound?
- Rub salt in the wound is a verb.
- What is the past tense of rub salt in the wound?
- The past tense of rub salt in the wound is rubbed salt in the wound.
Words near rub salt in the wound in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: rub salt in the wound (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-rub salt in the wound.ogg.
Cite this entry: “rub salt in the wound.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rub_salt_in_the_wound. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.