the rub

Idioms  

1. The difficulty or problem, as in We'd love to come but there's the rub—we can't get reservations. This expression may come from lawn bowling, where rub refers to an unevenness in the ground that impedes the ball. Its most famous use is in one of Hamlet's soliloquies (Hamlet, 3:1): “To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there's the rub, For in that sleep of death what dreams may come ... Must give us pause.” [Late 1500s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

the rub

The beef industry is starting to feel the rub of government workforce reductions.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 18, 2026

Although the ability to make snow has been a game changer for resorts in North America, here’s the rub: Snowmaking works only when it’s cold.

From Slate ● Apr. 11, 2026

For Slot, who has regularly insisted that Liverpool have been unfortunate on many an occasion this season, there was an acceptable that his side had finally got the rub of the green.

From BBC ● Feb. 22, 2026

Public-market investors had visibility into the 2000 bubble, but much less today—and there’s the rub.

From Barron's ● Dec. 12, 2025

But the rub is that there are two ways he can win and only one way you can win.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos

Related Words

• barrier
• bug
• crunch
• difficulty
• disadvantage
• drawback
• glitch
• hitch
• holdup
• hurdle
• impediment
• inconvenience
• obstacle
• stumbling block