Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

rub someone's nose in

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.73 in modern English

Syllables: rub -some-one's nose in
IPA

21

Scrabble Score

17

Letters

3

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To confront someone with (facts or evidence) that they find unpleasant in order to make them suffer.

verb

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see rub, nose, in.

Example Sentences

"I want him to rub his nose in the issue. I want a local judgement about a local or specific event, supposed to have happened in a particular region of time and space."
"This weekend you're here to rub his face in one failure, his not securing a Beaumaris to marry one of his stepdaughters, while I rub his nose in the ultimate failure for any Beaumaris, true or not, by informing him he needs to pack his bags and get...the fuck...out."
"Anyone could have told him he'd overdone the dyed hair and should lose a few pounds, but Colin was delighted to be able to rub his nose in the fact that he was meeting someone and merely passing time with Max, if one could believe that was actually his name."
"Consequently, Socrates engages in repeated elenctic episodes with the same interlocutor, not to rub his nose in his ignorance and thereby incur his wrath but, rather, at least in part to lead the interlocutor to the recognition of his ignorance."

Etymology

From the technique of rubbing a pet's nose in the feces or urine when it makes a mess where it should not.

Inflected Forms

rubs someone's nose in (present, singular) rubbing someone's nose in (participle, present) rubbed someone's nose in (participle, past) rubbed someone's nose in (past)

Questions

What does rub someone's nose in mean?: To confront someone with (facts or evidence) that they find unpleasant in order to make them suffer.
Where does rub someone's nose in come from?: From the technique of rubbing a pet's nose in the feces or urine when it makes a mess where it should not.

How to pronounce rub someone's nose in

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