Word.ws English Dictionary

rub someone up the wrong way

rub someone up the wrong way is the alternative form of rub someone the wrong way.

Meaning of rub someone the wrong way

Verb

rub someone the wrong way (third-person singular simple present rubs someone the wrong way, present participle rubbing someone the wrong way, simple past and past participle rubbed someone the wrong way)

  1. (idiomatic, transitive) To cause someone irritation, discomfort or annoyance, often unintentionally, because of one's behavior, manner, attitude or personality.
    • “Look, I tell you what, Mac. Seeing how as you're my best friend” “Yeah!” “Maybe you can look into it for me. Go snoop around the shop.” “Can-can I stop you for a second? I'm sorry. I'm a little confused here. You-you just said that he was your best friend? How is he your best friend over me?”...2008 September 25, David Hornsby, “Mac's Banging the Waitress” (1:38 from the start), in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, season 4, episode 4, spoken by Charlie Kelly (Charlie Day)

Forms of rub someone up the wrong way

third-person singular presentrubs someone up the wrong way
present participlerubbing someone up the wrong way
past participlerubbed someone up the wrong way
pastrubbed someone up the wrong way

Questions about rub someone up the wrong way

What is rub someone up the wrong way the alternative form of?
Rub someone up the wrong way is the alternative form of rub someone the wrong way.

Words near rub someone up the wrong way in the dictionary

  1. rub out
  2. rub salt in someone's wounds
  3. rub salt in the wound
  4. rub shoulders
  5. rub someone the wrong way
  6. rub someone up the wrong way
  7. rub someone's face in
  8. rub someone's nose in
  9. rub the fear of God into
  10. rub up
  11. rub up against

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rub someone up the wrong way (page history and authors); rub someone the wrong way (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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