Meaning & use
phubbing
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Meanings
noununcountableinformal
the act of ignoring someone you are with by looking at your phone instead.
Grammar: Uncountable: use it without 'a' or a plural: 'Phubbing is rude.'
Patterns
- phubbing someone
- accuse someone of phubbing
- phubbing at the dinner table
She was tired of his phubbing every time they went out for coffee.
A recent study found that phubbing harms relationships more than open criticism.
He didn't mean any harm, but his constant phubbing made his date feel unimportant.
verbtransitiveinformal
to ignore a person who is present by paying attention to your phone.
Grammar: Takes an object: phub someone. It is a back-formation from 'phubbing' and is less common than the noun.
Patterns
- phub someone
- phub your partner
Stop phubbing me when I'm trying to talk to you!
He phubbed his friends all evening and didn't notice they had left.
Word forms
| third person singular | phubs |
|---|---|
| past tense | phubbed |
| past participle | phubbed |
| -ing form | phubbing |
Common combinations
- accuse someone of phubbing
- She accused him of phubbing during their anniversary dinner.
- constant phubbing
- Constant phubbing can make your partner feel invisible.
- phubbing at the table
- Phubbing at the table is considered bad manners in many cultures.
- a victim of phubbing
- He felt like a victim of phubbing whenever his wife checked her messages.
Synonyms and how they differ
- phone snubbing
- A literal synonym, but much rarer and more formal; 'phubbing' is the usual everyday term.
- ignoring
- A general word for not paying attention; it does not specifically involve a phone, so it is less precise.
Opposites
Word family
- phub verb
- The back-formed verb meaning to ignore someone by using your phone.
- phubber noun
- A person who phubs others.
Commonly confused: phubbing or phubbing vs. snubbing?
phubbing vs phubbing vs. snubbing
Snubbing means deliberately ignoring someone in a rude way; phubbing is specifically ignoring them because you are on your phone.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'phubbing' correctly?
Choose one answer.
The verb 'phub' takes a person as its object, so 'phubbing her boyfriend' is correct. Option An is wrong because you phub a person, not a phone. Option C lacks a helping verb. Option D uses the wrong tense form.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “phubbing”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.