Word.ws English Dictionary

rubbed shoulders

rubbed shoulders is the simple past and past participle of rub shoulders.

Meaning of rub shoulders

Verb

rub shoulders (third-person singular simple present rubs shoulders, present participle rubbing shoulders, simple past and past participle rubbed shoulders)

  1. (idiomatic, usually) To associate closely; to socialize or mingle.
    • All classes rub shoulders on the greasy benches.1887, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter 1, in Memories and Portraits
    Synonyms:
    rub elbows

Questions about rubbed shoulders

What is rubbed shoulders the simple past and past participle of?
Rubbed shoulders is the simple past and past participle of rub shoulders.

Words near rubbed shoulders in the dictionary

  1. rubbed one's hands together
  2. rubbed oneself off
  3. rubbed out
  4. rubbed salt in someone's wounds
  5. rubbed salt in the wound
  6. rubbed shoulders
  7. rubbed someone the wrong way
  8. rubbed someone up the wrong way
  9. rubbed someone's face in
  10. rubbed someone's nose in
  11. rubbed the fear of God into

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rubbed shoulders (page history and authors); rub shoulders (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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