Word.ws English Dictionary

there's the rub

there's the rub is the alternative form of therein lies the rub.

Meaning of therein lies the rub

Phrase

therein lies the rub

  1. (idiomatic) That is where the problem is found or located.
    • I tried to back up my database to a USB flash drive, but it isn't big enough. Therein lies the rub.

Questions about there's the rub

What is there's the rub the alternative form of?
There's the rub is the alternative form of therein lies the rub.

Words near there's the rub in the dictionary

  1. there's no war within the walls
  2. there's none so blind as those who will not see
  3. there's nothing to it
  4. there's nowt so queer as folk
  5. there's one born every minute
  6. there's the rub
  7. there've
  8. there've been
  9. there, there
  10. there-anent
  11. there4

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: there's the rub (page history and authors); therein lies the rub (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: “there's the rub.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/there%27s_the_rub. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.