slings and arrows

Originally from Shakespeare's Hamlet, "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" (act 3, scene 1, spoken by Hamlet).[1]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌslɪŋz ˌænd ˈærəʊz/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌslɪŋz ˌænd ˈɛroʊz/
  • (US, Mary–marry–merry distinction) IPA^(key): /ˌslɪŋz ˌænd ˈæroʊz/
• Hyphenation: slings and ar‧rows

slings and arrows (uncountable)

1. (idiomatic) Hardships or adverse circumstances. [from early 17th c.]
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 265, column 1:

     Ham. To be, or not to be, that is the Queſtion:
     Whether 'tis Nobler in the minde to ſuffer
     The Slings and Arrowes of outragious Fortune,
     Or to take Armes againſt a Sea of troubles,
     And by oppoſing end them: to dye, to ſleepe […]

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:slings and arrows.
2. (idiomatic) Harsh criticism or personal attacks.
   • 1812, Maria Edgeworth, Tales of Fashionable Life, volume V, London: Printed for J[oseph] Johnson and Co., […] , →OCLC, The Absentee, chapter III, pages 284–285:

     […] Mrs. Dareville, without any motives of interest, or good-nature of sufficient power to restrain her talent and habit of ridicule, free from hope or fear, gave full scope to all the malice of mockery, and all the insolence of fashion. Her slings and arrows, numerous as they were and outrageous, were directed against such petty objects, and the mischief was so quick, in its aim and its operation, that, felt but not seen, it is scarcely possible to register the hits, or to describe the nature of the wounds.

   • 1962 June 15, “Politics: Passion, Pageantry & Platform”, in TIME, The Weekly Newsmagazine, volume LXXIX, number 24, New York: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 13:

     In Massachusetts, the Kennedy family, unafraid of the slings and arrows from lesser breeds, proudly ran its youngest son through a convention gauntlet, and saw him emerge the victor.

   • 2018, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court of the United States, edited by Christine Luchok Fallon, Vance v. Ball State University, 570 U.S. 421 (2013) (United States Reports; 570)‎ (judicial opinion), Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, →ISBN, →OCLC, Ginsburg, J., dissenting, page 454:

     Exposed to a fellow employee's harassment, one can walk away or tell the offender to "buzz off." A supervisor's slings and arrows, however, are not so easily avoided. An employee who confronts her harassing supervisor risks, for example, receiving an undesirable or unsafe work assignment or an unwanted transfer.

• Often used with further quoting of Hamlet, such as in "to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune/X".

• Appendix:Snowclones/to X or not to X
• Thesaurus:criticize

• “slings and arrows”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “slings and arrows” in Idioms and phrases, TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2024.
• “slings and arrows” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.