Word.ws English Dictionary

rubbed someone the wrong way

rubbed someone the wrong way is the simple past and past participle 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)

Questions about rubbed someone the wrong way

What is rubbed someone the wrong way the simple past and past participle of?
Rubbed someone the wrong way is the simple past and past participle of rub someone the wrong way.

Words near rubbed someone the wrong way in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rubbed someone 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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