Idiom
rub salt in someone's wounds
Meaning
To make a painful situation even worse (even with the best of intentions).
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Don't rub salt in his wounds by mentioning the game he lost.”
“Please do not rub salt in my wounds while I am still upset.”
“He rubs salt in her wounds by constantly talking about his new promotion.”
“She already felt bad about failing the test, so his comments only rubbed salt in her wounds.”
“Losing the championship was hard enough, but seeing the other team celebrate at our favorite restaurant really rubbed salt in our wounds.”
“The store refused to give her a refund and then rubbed salt in her wounds by charging a high fee for the return.”
“After my car broke down in the rain, getting a parking ticket just rubbed salt in my wounds.”
“By highlighting the exact moment the company began its decline, the critic effectively rubbed salt in the wounds of the struggling management team.”
Examples
simple
“Don't rub salt in his wounds by mentioning the game he lost.”
“Please do not rub salt in my wounds while I am still upset.”
“He rubs salt in her wounds by constantly talking about his new promotion.”
contextual
“She already felt bad about failing the test, so his comments only rubbed salt in her wounds.”
“Losing the championship was hard enough, but seeing the other team celebrate at our favorite restaurant really rubbed salt in our wounds.”
“The store refused to give her a refund and then rubbed salt in her wounds by charging a high fee for the return.”
“After my car broke down in the rain, getting a parking ticket just rubbed salt in my wounds.”
complex
“By highlighting the exact moment the company began its decline, the critic effectively rubbed salt in the wounds of the struggling management team.”
Origin
Derived from the historical medical practice of applying salt to an open wound to inhibit infection. While effective as an antiseptic, the treatment was notably painful, a quality that remains the primary feature of the modern idiom.
Key words
Related idioms
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