What does ‘rub someone the wrong way’ mean?
To “rub someone the wrong way” means to annoy or irritate someone. The image is of stroking an animal's fur against the grain. The idiom is 19th-century American.
Origin
- The image is of stroking an animal's fur against the grain. The idiom is 19th-century American.
How to use it
- Common way to describe subtle personal friction.
- Example: His tone rubs me the wrong way.
Source:
Last verified: 2026-07-18
- Definitions and origins are drawn from public-domain reference works, primarily Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898), with modern usage notes clearly marked.