rub salt in/into someone's wounds
idiom
informal
: to make a difficult situation even worse for someone
It's bad enough that he was right and she was wrong, but the way he keeps talking about it is just rubbing salt into her wounds.
Cite this Entry
“Rub salt in/into someone's wounds.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rub%20salt%20in%2Finto%20someone%27s%20wounds. Accessed 27 Nov. 2025.
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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