shoulder to shoulder

Idioms and Phrases

In close proximity or cooperation, as in The volunteers worked shoulder to shoulder in the effort to rescue the miners . This expression originated in the late 1500s in the military, at first signifying troops in close formation. Its figurative use dates from the late 1800s.

Example Sentences

Back at the barracks, police conducted a shoulder-to-shoulder “line search.”

From The Daily Beast

Inside, guests sat sweating shoulder-to-shoulder on the unseasonably warm Paris afternoon.

From The Daily Beast

The men who died at D-Day did not die shoulder-to-shoulder with their French comrades.

From The Daily Beast

It seemed to remind him of the old shoulder-to-shoulder tradition.

From Project Gutenberg

The shoulder-to-shoulder fight of the ancient rivals, from 1914 to 1918, let us hope, has put the seal on their pact of peace.

From Project Gutenberg

It was a surging, struggling, shoulder-to-shoulder scramble.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• collectively
• in tandem
• jointly
• simultaneously
• together