To be, or not to be
CulturalExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
To be or not to be, that is the question for a solo version of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 25, 2026
Wisely, the production acknowledges all the digital trickery, with Benny's avatar declaring: "To be or not to be, that is no longer the question," during an early interlude.
From BBC • May 26, 2022
To be, or not to be, ay there’s the point, To Die, to sleep, is that all?
From New York Times • Nov. 24, 2021
And at this point I'm thinking of "Hamlet" and our democracy: To be, or not to be.
From Salon • Oct. 30, 2021
I tried feeling those atoms, tried to sense if there was anything inside me that might inspire me to burst out with To be, or not to be or Wherefore art thou, but I couldn’t.
From "The Thing About Jellyfish" by Ali Benjamin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
