run the gauntlet
Face successive challenges
To run the gauntlet is to pass through an ordeal where attacks or criticism come from all sides.
The phrase comes from a military punishment where the offender ran between two rows of soldiers who struck him as he passed.
Now it describes any situation requiring endurance through sustained hostility or difficulty: She had to run the gauntlet of reporters outside the courthouse, New employees run the gauntlet of hazing rituals.
- go through fire and waterEndure extreme ordeals willingly
- trial by fireTest through difficult experience
- baptism of fireDifficult first exposure
- confrontFace squarely, address directly
- meetCome into contact
pain · come to grips with · take the bull by the horns · face · face the music · flogging · hazing · face up to · under fire · ordeal · antagonism · tough it out · sink or swim · hostility · run the gamut · criticism · brazen · speak out
run the gauntletbreeze through
Accomplish with effortless ease
sail through · coast · walk in the park · smooth sailing · cakewalk