rub salt in/into the wound
idiom
informal
: to make a difficult situation even worse for someone
It's bad enough that he was right and I was wrong, but the way he keeps talking about it is just rubbing salt in the wound.
Examples of rub salt in/into the wound in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
To rub salt in the wound, Barkley will now suit up for the Birds in the Super Bowl on Sunday.
—
Ryan Morik, Fox News, 7 Feb. 2025
Then to really rub salt in the wound Judge Lauber rules that the taxpayers have not offered any proof of what their basis was making for a deduction of zero.
—Peter J Reilly, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2024
The mystifying rejection weighs heavily on Pádraic at the bar, where questions about his friend’s absence from the publican, Jonjo (Pat Shortt), rub salt into the wound.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Sep. 2022
Last week, the official Twitter account of the Arkansas Razorbacks involved Skyline Chili in an attempt to rub salt in the wound after the SEC team handed the Cincinnati Bearcats their first loss of the season.
—Dave Clark, The Enquirer, 12 Sep. 2022
To rub salt in the wound, a post-pandemic survey from Deloitte revealed that Gen Z had actually overtaken Millennials as being the generation most interested in leaving their companies, with over 50% actively thinking about changing their jobs in the next two years.
—Natalia Mila, Forbes, 21 Oct. 2021
To rub salt in the wound, a massive explosion in Beirut last summer devastated parts of the city where hundreds of homes of Lebanon’s older Christian population stood, temporarily or permanently displacing them.
—Sarah El Deeb, ajc, 22 June 2021
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Ryan Morik, Fox News, 7 Feb. 2025
Then to really rub salt in the wound Judge Lauber rules that the taxpayers have not offered any proof of what their basis was making for a deduction of zero.
—Peter J Reilly, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2024
The mystifying rejection weighs heavily on Pádraic at the bar, where questions about his friend’s absence from the publican, Jonjo (Pat Shortt), rub salt into the wound.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Sep. 2022
Last week, the official Twitter account of the Arkansas Razorbacks involved Skyline Chili in an attempt to rub salt in the wound after the SEC team handed the Cincinnati Bearcats their first loss of the season.
—Dave Clark, The Enquirer, 12 Sep. 2022
To rub salt in the wound, a post-pandemic survey from Deloitte revealed that Gen Z had actually overtaken Millennials as being the generation most interested in leaving their companies, with over 50% actively thinking about changing their jobs in the next two years.
—Natalia Mila, Forbes, 21 Oct. 2021
To rub salt in the wound, a massive explosion in Beirut last summer devastated parts of the city where hundreds of homes of Lebanon’s older Christian population stood, temporarily or permanently displacing them.
—Sarah El Deeb, ajc, 22 June 2021
Cite this Entry
“Rub salt in/into the wound.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rub%20salt%20in%2Finto%20the%20wound. Accessed 23 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share