THESAURUS
Rub
Discordia, Eris, ablate, abrade, abrase, afflict, aggravate, agonize, ail, air-dry, anhydrate, annoy, apple of discord, attouchement, bake, bandage, bar, bark, bathe, bite, block, blockade, blot, bone of contention, bone to pick, bother, bottleneck, breath, brush, brush by, buff, burn, burnish, care for, caress, casus belli, catch, catch a likeness, chafe, character, characterize, chart, clash, clashing, climacteric, clutch, come in contact, conflict, confrication, contact, contention, contingence, convergence of events, convulse, cordon, crimp, crisis, critical juncture, critical point, crossroads, crow to pick, crow to pluck, crucial period, crucify, crunch, crux, cure, curtain, cut, cutaneous sense, dehumidify, dehydrate, delineate, depict, desiccate, determent, deterrent, diagnose, diagram, difficulty, disaccord, disaffinity, discord, discordance, discordancy, disharmony, distress, doctor, drain, draw, drawback, dry, emergency, enmity, erase, erode, evaporate, exasperate, excoriate, excruciate, exigency, exsiccate, extremity, feel, feel up, feeling, fester, file, fingertip caress, finish, fire, flick, flux, fondle, fray, frazzle, fret, frication, friction, frictionize, frottage, furbish, gall, give care to, give pain, glance, glaze, gloss, gnaw, gnaw away, grate, graze, grind, gripe, grounds for war, hamper, hand-mindedness, hang-up, harrow, hazard, heal, hinge, hit, hit off, hitch, hurdle, hurt, impediment, impinge, impingement, impingence, incompatibility, incompatibleness, inflame, inflict pain, inharmoniousness, inharmony, insolate, irk, irritate, jangle, jar, joker, kill by inches, kiln, kiss, knead, lacerate, lambency, lap, lick, light touch, limn, luster, map, martyr, martyrize, massage, minister to, mischief, mummify, nettle, nip, noncooperation, nose, notate, nudge, nurse, nuzzle, objection, obstacle, obstruction, obstructive, one small difficulty, open conflict, operate on, osculate, osculation, pain, paint, parch, pass, peeve, perfrication, pet, physic, picture, picturize, pierce, pinch, plaster, polish, portray, poultice, prick, print, prolong the agony, provoke, purge, push, put to torture, rack, rankle, rasp, raze, register, remedy, render, represent, rile, rub against, rub away, rub down, rub noses, rub off, rub out, rubbing, ruffle, schematize, scorch, scour, scrape, scrub, scuff, sear, sense of touch, shave, shine, shrivel, sideswipe, skim, skin, skirt, sleek, slick, slick down, smoke, snag, soak up, sore point, splint, sponge, squeak by, stab, sting, strained relations, strait, strap, stroke, stumbling block, stumbling stone, sun, sun-dry, swab, symbolize, tactile sense, taction, take a rubbing, tangency, tap, tender spot, tension, tentative contact, tentative poke, ticklish issue, torment, torrefy, torture, touch, touching, towel, trace, trace out, trace over, traverse, treat, turn, turning point, tweak, twist, unharmoniousness, unpleasantness, varnish, vex, wax, wear, wear away, weazen, whisper, wipe, wither, wizen, wound, wring, write
ROGET THESAURUS
Rub
Difficulty
N
difficulty, hardness, impracticability, tough work, hard work, uphill work, hard task, Herculean task, Augean task, task of Sisyphus, Sisyphean labor, tough job, teaser, rasper, dead lift, dilemma, embarrassment, deadlock, perplexity, intricacy, entanglement, complexity, cross fire, awkwardness, delicacy, ticklish card to play, knot, Gordian knot, dignus vindice nodus, net, meshes, maze, coil, crooked path, involvement, nice point, delicate point, subtle point, knotty point, vexed question, vexata quaestio, poser, puzzle, paradox, hard nut to crack, nut to crack, bone to pick, crux, pons asinorum, where the shoe pinches, nonplus, quandary, strait, pass, pinch, pretty pass, stress, brunt, critical situation, crisis, trial, rub, emergency, exigency, scramble, scrape, hobble, slough, quagmire, hot water, hornet's nest, sea of troubles, peck of troubles, pretty kettle of fish, pickle, stew, imbroglio, mess, ado, false position, set fast, stand, standstill, deadlock, dead set, fix, horns of a dilemma, cul de sac, hitch, stumbling block, crab, curmudgeon, difficult, not easy, hard, tough, troublesome, toilsome, irksome, operose, laborious, onerous, arduous, Herculean, formidable, sooner said than done, more easily said than done, easier said than done, difficult to deal with, hard to deal with, ill-conditioned, crabbed, crabby, not to be handled with kid gloves, not made with rose water, awkward, unwieldy, unmanageable, intractable, stubborn, perverse, refractory, plaguy, trying, thorny, rugged, knotted, knotty, invious, pathless, trackless, labyrinthine, intricate, complicated, impracticable, not feasible, desperate, embarrassing, perplexing, delicate, ticklish, critical, beset with difficulties, full of difficulties, surrounded by difficulties, entangled by difficulties, encompassed with difficulties, under a difficulty, in a box, in difficulty, in hot water, in the suds, in a cleft stick, in a fix, in the wrong box, in a scrape, in deep water, in a fine pickle, in extremis, between two stools, between Scylla and Charybdis, surrounded by shoals, surrounded by breakers, surrounded by quicksands, at cross purposes, not out of the wood, reduced to straits, hard pressed, sorely pressed, run hard, pinched, put to it, straitened, hard up, hard put to it, hard set, put to one's shifts, puzzled, at a loss, at the end of one's tether, at the end of one's rope, at one's wit's end, at a nonplus, at a standstill, graveled, nonplused, nonplussed, stranded, aground, stuck fast, set fast, up a tree, at bay, aux abois, driven into a corner, driven from pillar to post, driven to extremity, driven to one's wit's end, driven to the wall, au bout de son Latin, out of one's depth, thrown out, accomplished with difficulty, hard-fought, hard-earned, with difficulty, with much ado, barely, hardly, uphill, against the stream, against the grain, d rebours, invita Minerva, in the teeth of, at a pinch, upon a pinch, at long odds, against long odds, ay there's the rub, hic labor hoc opus, things are come to a pretty pass, ab inconvenienti, ad astra per aspera, acun chemin de fleurs ne conduit a la gloire.
Adversity
N
adversity, evil, failure, bad luck, ill luck, evil luck, adverse luck, hard fortune, hard hap, hard luck, hard lot, frowns of fortune, evil dispensation, evil star, evil genius, vicissitudes of life, ups and downs of life, broken fortunes, hard case, hard lines, hard life, sea of troubles, peck of troubles, hell upon earth, slough of despond, trouble, hardship, curse, blight, blast, load, pressure, pressure of the times, iron age, evil day, time out of joint, hard times, bad times, sad times, rainy day, cloud, dark cloud, gathering clouds, ill wind, visitation, infliction, affliction, bitter pill, care, trial, the sport of fortune, mishap, mischance, misadventure, misfortune, disaster, calamity, catastrophe, accident, casualty, cross, reverse, check, contretemps, rub, backset, comedown, setback, losing game, falling, fall, downfall, ruination, ruinousness, undoing, extremity, ruin, unfortunate, unblest, unhappy, unlucky, improsperous, unprosperous, hoodooed, luckless, hapless, out of luck, in trouble, in a bad way, in an evil plight, under a cloud, clouded, ill off, badly off, in adverse circumstances, poor, behindhand, down in the world, decayed, undone, on the road to ruin, on its last legs, on the wane, in one's utmost need, planet-struck, devoted, born under an evil star, born with a wooden ladle in one's mouth, ill-fated, ill-starred, ill-omened, adverse, untoward, disastrous, calamitous, ruinous, dire, deplorable.
Painfulness
N
painfulness, trouble, care, trial, affliction, infliction, blow, stroke, burden, load, curse, bitter pill, bitter draught, waters of bitterness, annoyance, grievance, nuisance, vexation, mortification, sickener, bore, bother, pother, hot water, sea of troubles, hornet's nest, plague, pest, cancer, ulcer, sting, thorn, canker, scorpion, dagger, scourge, carking care, canker worm of care, mishap, misfortune, desagrement, esclandre, rub, source of irritation, source of annoyance, wound, open sore, sore subject, skeleton in the closet, thorn in the flesh, thorn in one's side, where the shoe pinches, gall and wormwood, sorry sight, heavy news, provocation, affront, head and front of one's offending, infestation, molestation, malignity, causing pain, hurting, hurtful, painful, dolorific, dolorous, unpleasant, unpleasing, displeasing, disagreeable, unpalatable, bitter, distasteful, uninviting, unwelcome, undesirable, undesired, obnoxious, unacceptable, unpopular, thankless, unsatisfactory, untoward, unlucky, uncomfortable, distressing, afflicting, afflictive, joyless, cheerless, comfortless, dismal, disheartening, depressing, depressive, dreary, melancholy, grievous, piteous, woeful, rueful, mournful, deplorable, pitiable, lamentable, sad, affecting, touching, pathetic, irritating, provoking, stinging, annoying, aggravating, mortifying, galling, unaccommodating, invidious, vexatious, troublesome, tiresome, irksome, wearisome, plaguing, plaguy, awkward, importunate, teasing, pestering, bothering, harassing, worrying, tormenting, carking, intolerable, insufferable, insupportable, unbearable, unendurable, past bearing, not to be borne, not to be endured, more than flesh and blood can bear, enough to drive one mad, enough to provoke a saint, enough to make a parson swear, enough to gag a maggot, shocking, terrific, grim, appalling, crushing, dreadful, fearful, frightful, thrilling, tremendous, dire, heart-breaking, heart-rending, heart-wounding, heart-corroding, heart-sickening, harrowing, rending, odious, hateful, execrable, repulsive, repellent, abhorrent, horrid, horrible, horrific, horrifying, offensive, nauseous, nauseating, disgusting, sickening, revolting, nasty, loathsome, loathful, fulsome, vile, hideous, sharp, acute, sore, severe, grave, hard, harsh, cruel, biting, caustic, cutting, corroding, consuming, racking, excruciating, searching, grinding, grating, agonizing, envenomed, catheretic, pyrotic, ruinous, disastrous, calamitous, tragical, desolating, withering, burdensome, onerous, oppressive, cumbrous, cumbersome, painfully, with pain, deuced, Int, hinc illae lachrymae!, surgit amari aliquid, the place being too hot to hold one, the iron entering into the soul, he jests at scars that never felt a wound, I must be cruel only to be kind, what deep wounds ever closed without a scar?.
Friction
N
friction, attrition, rubbing, abrasion, scraping, confrication, detrition, contrition, affriction, abrasion, arrosion, limature, frication, rub, elbow grease, rosin, massage, roughness, rolling friction, sliding friction, starting friction, anatriptic, attrite.
VB
rub, scratch, scrape, scrub, slide, fray, rasp, graze, curry, scour, polish, rub out, wear down, gnaw, file, grind, set one's teeth on edge, rosin.