Word.ws English Dictionary

rubbed salt in someone's wounds

rubbed salt in someone's wounds is the simple past and past participle of rub salt in someone's wounds.

Meaning of rub salt in someone's wounds

Verb

rub salt in someone's wounds (third-person singular simple present rubs salt in someone's wounds, present participle rubbing salt in someone's wounds, simple past and past participle rubbed salt in someone's wounds)

  1. (idiomatic) To make a painful situation even worse (even with the best of intentions).
    • John already feels guilty for what he did to you. Don't rub salt into his wounds.

Questions about rubbed salt in someone's wounds

What is rubbed salt in someone's wounds the simple past and past participle of?
Rubbed salt in someone's wounds is the simple past and past participle of rub salt in someone's wounds.

Words near rubbed salt in someone's wounds in the dictionary

  1. rubbed one's face with a brass candlestick
  2. rubbed one's hands
  3. rubbed one's hands together
  4. rubbed oneself off
  5. rubbed out
  6. rubbed salt in someone's wounds
  7. rubbed salt in the wound
  8. rubbed shoulders
  9. rubbed someone the wrong way
  10. rubbed someone up the wrong way
  11. rubbed someone's face in

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rubbed salt in someone's wounds (page history and authors); rub salt in someone's wounds (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:

Cite this entry: “rubbed salt in someone's wounds.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rubbed_salt_in_someone%27s_wounds. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.