Word.ws English Dictionary

rubs off on

rubs off on is the third-person singular simple present indicative of rub off on.

Meaning of rub off on

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic, transitive, usually, beliefs) To be acquired by or transferred to (someone) as a result of regular exposure.
    • The hippie way of life seems to have rubbed off on him, as he's a flower power aficionado.

Questions about rubs off on

What is rubs off on the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Rubs off on is the third-person singular simple present indicative of rub off on.

Words near rubs off on in the dictionary

  1. rubs elbows
  2. rubs in
  3. rubs it in
  4. rubs of the green
  5. rubs off
  6. rubs off on
  7. rubs one off
  8. rubs one out
  9. rubs one's face with a brass candlestick
  10. rubs one's hands
  11. rubs one's hands together

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rubs off on (page history and authors); rub off on (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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Cite this entry: “rubs off on.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rubs_off_on. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.