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

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

The drying ground was ultimately against him there, and that's the rub.

From BBC • Apr. 9, 2026

But here’s the rub: the rest of us can’t.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 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 that was the rub: The Limerick didn’t appear to give any hint as to where Halliday had hidden the damn thing.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

Related Words

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