rub it in one's face

verb

To brag about one's success, accomplishments, etc. so as to make another person feel inferior.

“Him beating me was bad enough, he didn’t have to rub it in my face.”

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Meanings

verbrub it in one's face (third-person singular simple present rubs it in one's face, present participle rubbing it in one's face, simple past and past participle rubbed it in one's face)

present singular third person rubs it in one's face · participle present rubbing it in one's face · participle past rubbed it in one's face · past rubbed it in one's face

  1. To brag about one's success, accomplishments, etc. so as to make another person feel inferior.

    Him beating me was bad enough, he didn’t have to rub it in my face.

    2 more examples

    Vangie, we got married so young. And this woman just rubbed it in my face.

    1994, Michael Lee West, She Flew the Coop, HarperCollins Publishers, page 302

    I was smarter than him, and I rubbed it in his face every chance I got.

    2013, Andrew Grey, In Search of a Story, Dreamspinner Press, page 67
Cite this entry
APA

rub it in one's face. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rub%20it%20in%20one's%20face

MLA

“rub it in one's face.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rub%20it%20in%20one's%20face. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “rub it in one's face,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rub%20it%20in%20one's%20face.

Source: rub it in one's face on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.