English · Idiom Candidate

rub shoulders

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

To interact or associate with someone, often in a social or professional setting.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

tương tác hoặc giao tiếp với ai đó, thường trong một môi trường xã hội hoặc chuyên nghiệp

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: touch shoulders

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

Should you, by some far chance, rub shoulders with him again, Iago, let him know his brother is well healed of his wounds, and in good fettle.

The British Women's Amateur Championship, at Pannal in June, remains the top event on the calendar, while the amateurs also relish the opportunity to rub shoulders with the pros in the British Women's Open in August.

British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Topics: Arms

Common questions

What does “rub shoulders” mean?

To interact or associate with someone, often in a social or professional setting. Literally: touch shoulders

Is “rub shoulders” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.