through thick and thin

Cultural  

1. To stay with someone or something “through thick and thin” is to persevere through good times as well as bad: “She stood beside her friend through thick and thin.”

---

through thick and thin Idioms  

1. Despite all obstacles or adversities, as in She promised to stand by him through thick and thin. This term alludes to penetrating a forest with both thick and sparse undergrowth. Today it is nearly always used with the idea of supporting something or someone in all circumstances, as in the example. [Late 1300s]

---

Example Sentences

It needed supporters who cheered for their team through thick and thin, not curious, casual fans who came out to see whatever big-name player was passing through town but never came back.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 24, 2026

“They’ve stuck with the Venezuelan market through thick and thin, and endured a lot of adverse conditions, a lot of headwinds,” said Clay Seigel, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 17, 2025

He said: "Some way or another we kind of stuck together through thick and thin, through the highs and the lows."

From BBC • Nov. 5, 2025

I guarantee that the ever-growing, multi-partisan, pro-democracy army keeps working through thick and thin.

From Salon • Jul. 15, 2024

But they belonged to a fiercely loyal Irish community that they could count on to stand together through thick and thin.

From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield

Related Words

• adamantly
• decisively
• doggedly
• persistently
• resolutely
• staunchly
• steadfastly
• strictly
• stubbornly
• tenaciously