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Run the gauntlet

Idiomatic Phrase
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

To endure a series of criticisms, attacks, or difficult experiences; historical reference to military punishment of running between rows of soldiers striking offender, symbolizing ordeal.

Detailed Definition
Run the gauntlet means to endure a series of attacks, criticisms, tests, dangers, or humiliations. In poetry, the idiom evokes public exposure and repeated trial, as though the speaker must pass between hostile forces. It can describe school bullying, political scrutiny, courtship, grief, illness, artistic judgement, or literal military danger. A poet may use it to explore courage under pressure, but also the cruelty of communities that make suffering into spectacle. The phrase gives ordeal a clear spatial structure.
Example
Example in poetry:
A heroic poem might send the prisoner running the gauntlet between jeering guards; In a school satire, the new pupil runs the gauntlet of jokes in the corridor; The phrase means to endure a series of attacks, tests, or criticisms; A poet can use it for ordeal.
Additional Notes
Run the gauntlet means endure a series of attacks, criticisms, tests, or hostile encounters. Historically, a gauntlet was an ordeal in which someone passed between lines of people striking them. In poetry, it can dramatise public judgement, initiation, school cruelty, press scrutiny, or moral trial. Students should notice the corridor-like structure: suffering comes from both sides as the figure moves forward. The idiom suits ordeal narratives.
Also Known As
face criticism
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