rub down
verb
Simple meaning
To rub from top to bottom, e.g.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ruhbdownSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɹʌbˈdaʊn
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
idiomatictransitive
To rub from top to bottom, e.g. for cleaning, stripping paint or massage.
transitive
To grind, wear down, or wear away by rubbing.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To rub from top to bottom, e.g. for cleaning, stripping paint or massage.
Used this way, rub down is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.