unkindest cut

Idioms  

1. The worst insult, ultimate treachery, as in And then, the unkindest cut of all—my partner walks out on me just when the deal is about to go through. This expression was invented by Shakespeare in describing Julius Caesar's stabbing to death by his friends in Julius Caesar (3:2): “This was the most unkindest cut of all.”

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Example Sentences

Surely you’ve heard the grumbles, the sighs and the outright complaints about self-serious comedians making points instead of punch lines, pandering for applause, creating specials that are more like solo theater shows or, the unkindest cut of all, TED Talks.

From New York Times

In the unkindest cut of all, these critics say that Glantz has become an unwitting ally of the tobacco industry.

From Salon

The unkindest cut is that this inhumanity has been overseen by Spears’ father, Jamie Spears, whose alleged cruelty as her state appointed “conservator” has kept Britney alienated from her body, her fortune, her children and even her own heart and mind.

From Los Angeles Times

For the Palestinians, it was perhaps the unkindest cut: Much of their strategy to pressure Israel relied on Arab solidarity to deny Israel the acceptance it craved.

From New York Times

Maybe the unkindest cut came after the relocation vote at the Board of Governors meeting in Dallas.

From Seattle Times