to rub off on
35
5.8
- phrasal verb
:
contagiar
- His dedication to fitness has started to rub off on his friends, who are now exercising regularly.
And that's really rubbed off on us.
- And that's really rubbed off on us.
- We know that belief systems rub off on people around us.
- Their Stardust and positivity and courage and integrity will rub off on you.
- She was an advocate for mental health, being sober, sobriety and that sort of rubbed off on me, but only just now.
- And that was a that was a guy's philosophy that rubbed off on the wealthiest, most spoiled kid imaginable or kids.
- And I think that a lot of his experience rubbed off on me, that he, he came from a place where he had no rights.
- Now, I alluded to this earlier in my earlier points about how some brands work carefully to support someone else's brand in the hope that that prestige rubs off on them.
- You know, as we got older, things rub off on you.
- You know, I, I feel like maybe it's my lack of hardscape knowledge probably that's rubbing off on that decision.
- I mean, clearly your father, whatever he's into or people close around you, rub off on you some way, possibly subconsciously.
- And just because you represent someone legally that doesn't, you know what they did is not supposed to rub rub off on you.
- Like honestly, I wish I could get like that, but it does rub off on, you know, we're both doing our bit, anything beyond that out of our control.
Examples
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It kind of rubs off on other people in a good way.
-
We know that belief systems rub off on people around us.
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And I hope that, you know, maybe some of that will rub off on you as well.
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Some of the perfect might rub off on her.
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Maybe some of what you got will rub off on him.
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All right, that guy was bad luck and it's starting to rub off on me.
-
Hope some of his easy ways will rub off on you.
Fiction book (1998) -
I thought maybe some of the excitement I felt would rub off on him.
Fiction book (2001) -
Some of it rubs off on you.
-
I can see his celebrated modesty has rubbed off on you.
Synonyms
21
3.6
Take something off a surface or pass a feeling to another person by touching
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
rub + off + on
The literal sense of 'rub off' (something being transferred or removed by rubbing) maps reasonably onto the metaphorical meaning of a quality being transferred through association, so a learner who knows 'rub', 'off' and 'on' can plausibly infer the sense. However, the shift from physical transfer to social/psychological influence requires a metaphorical leap and the particle sequence 'rub off on' is a phrasal pattern that may not be fully predictable without exposure, making it only partially transparent.
Etymology
The phrasal verb rub off on comes from the image of paint or dirt that moves when you rub one thing and some colour comes off onto another. If a person's mood or habit rubs off on someone else, the trait is passed by contact, so the phrase means 'to be passed to another person by influence'.