Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use rub in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Rub means an act of rubbing. Example: “Give that lamp a good rub and see if any genies come out.”

Examples of rub by meaning

nounAn act of rubbing.

  • Give that lamp a good rub and see if any genies come out.

nounA difficulty or problem.

  • But how to get there was the rub.1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[[Episode 16]]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC

nounAny substance designed to be applied by rubbing.

  • a heat rub intended for muscular strains

verbTo move (one object) while maintaining contact with another object over some area, with pressure and friction.

  • I rubbed the cloth over the glass.
  • The cat rubbed itself against my leg.
  • I rubbed my hands together for warmth.

verbTo be rubbed against something.

  • My shoes are beginning to rub.

verbTo spread a substance thinly over; to smear.

  • meat rubbed with spices before barbecuing

verbTo move or pass with difficulty.

  • to rub through woods, as huntsmen

verbTo scour; to burnish; to polish; to brighten; to cleanse; often with up or over.

  • to rub up silver

More sentences with rub

  • The teacher wanted to rub out the chalk marks on the blackboard.From the entry rub out
  • It's in the lowermost drawer, which sticks because it rubs against the floor.From the entry lowermost
  • The farmer grabbed a handful of sacking and rubbed down the cow.From the entry sacking
  • She accidentally rubbed up against the painted door and got green paint on her blouse.From the entry rub up against
  • Tibbles the cat rubbed up against my leg, asking for a piece of my cheese.From the entry rub up against
  • John already feels guilty for what he did to you. Don't rub salt into his wounds.From the entry rub salt in someone's wounds
  • I rubbed up the brass buttons on my jacket to make them shine.From the entry rub up
  • The pitcher rubs up the new baseball with dirt to get a better grip.From the entry rub up
  • I tried to back up my database to a USB flash drive, but it isn't big enough. Therein lies the rub.From the entry therein lies the rub
  • I hoped that, if I hung out with the popular kids, some of their charisma might rub off on me.From the entry rub off
  • The hippie way of life seems to have rubbed off on him, as he's a flower power aficionado.From the entry rub off on
  • The dog likes having its tum-tum rubbed.From the entry tum-tum
  • Not to rub it in, but I'm working from home. So I took a swim this morning and have been thoroughly enjoying the beautiful weather.From the entry rub it in
  • Anyone with two brain cells to rub together can come up with an idea for a better system. The problem is actually implementing it.From the entry two brain cells to rub together
  • Once we agreed to a deal full of treatos, frisbees, and belly rubs the rest was history.2023 April, “Precious Pets”, in STROLL Scarsdale, page 16. From the entry treato
  • Marsh whistled low as he rubbed a hand over his husband's hunched shoulders.2023, Layla Reyne, King Hunt: A Perfect Play Novel (Perfect Play), Layla Reyne, →ISBN. From the entry bold move, Cotton
  • Vern rubbed her hands along the motorcycles, admiring their size and power, their silver and black sleekness.2021, Rivers Solomon, Sorrowland, #Merky Books, page 43. From the entry motorcycle
  • Would you rub some moonscreen on my back, before I get burned?2018, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation. From the entry moonscreen
  • He leapt up on my unstable lap and rubbed his head against my chest.2017 [2016], Susan Dunlap, Out of Nowhere: A Darcy Lott Mystery (The Darcy Lott Series; 7), Sutton: Severn House Publishers, →ISBN, page 74. From the entry lap-doggy
  • She's missing hair at her sides, as if a saddle has long rubbed her permanently raw.2016, C. E. Morgan, The Sport of Kings, page 199. From the entry momentful
  • “Then ah'm gawn to rub salt in the cuts an' leave you hyar on the floor.”2014, Charles R. Allen, 99 Cent Adventure Time Stories: The House of Weird Sleep, page 3. From the entry gawn
  • Even if it was true, Joe didn't need to rub his face in it.2014, Jami Davenport, Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?, →ISBN. From the entry rub someone's face in
  • "That's war, my girl," he retorted, and rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand.2013 March 12 [1968], Anton Myrer, chapter 1, in Once an Eagle, HarperCollins, →ISBN, Orchard. From the entry boodleize
  • Early in the run, I began experiencing serious 'chub rub' between my bloated legs.2012, Scott Ludwig, Vanessa Stroud, In It for the Long Run: A Decade with the Darkside Running Club, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 352. From the entry chub rub
  • I sit at my desk and rub my chopsticks against each other, even though they're silver-monogrammed chopsticks.2012, Margo Candela, Underneath It All, New York: Kensington Publishing Corp., page 227. From the entry chopsticky
  • I rub my finger around the rim of the goblet until it hums its menacing tone.2012 August 7, F. J. Lennon, Devil's Gate: A Kane Pryce Novel, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 113. From the entry ectometer
  • He squats and rubs the inside of his thigh and howls and wails ecstatically.2011, Jay Dobbin, Francis X. Hezel, Summoning the Powers Beyond: Traditional Religions in Micronesia, University of Hawaii Press, →ISBN…. From the entry incantor
  • If you sat on it, your assprint was impossible to rub away.2011, Peter Orner, Love and Shame and Love: A Novel. From the entry assprint
  • Then I scuffed my feet, rubbed my hands together, and went for the slam.2011, Joe “Animal” Laurinaitis, Andrew William Wright, “Destroy Everything that Moves”, in The Road Warriors: Danger, Death, and the Rush…. From the entry kayfabed
  • I look normaller than you.” I hold up a hand and rub my knuckles.2011, Jonathan Friesen, chapter 6, in The Last Martin, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zonderkidz, →ISBN, page 65. From the entry normaller

Meaning of rub

  1. noun An act of rubbing.
  2. noun A difficulty or problem.
  3. noun A quip or sarcastic remark.

Full definition of rub

Questions about rub in a sentence

How do you use rub in a sentence?
Rub is used as a noun and verb. For example: “Give that lamp a good rub and see if any genies come out.”
What is a short sentence with rub?
“to rub up silver”
What does rub mean?
Rub means an act of rubbing.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rub (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use rub in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/rub. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.