ups and downs
noun1
Idiomatic Periods of positive and negative events, moods, or interactions; highs and lows.
- Heidi and Mike had their ups and downs, but they stayed married for more than 60 years.
- So it is the world wags: that honest men and knaves alike are always having ups and downs of fortune, and that we are perpetually changing tenants in Our Street.1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Our Street, page 34:
2 more examples
- But their friendship was not without its ups and downs, nor did they embark on many joint undertakings.1960 March 23, Alan Rannie, “The Friendships of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 170:
- Only a handful of rock musicians have become genuine icons - larger-than-life symbolic figures whose personal triumphs and vicissitudes seem to mirror the ups and downs of rock as a whole, and sometimes of the society that nurtures it. Often, rock icons become the objects of personality cults that tend to overshadow their musical accomplishments.1981 May 31, Robert Palmer, “Two Icons of Rock Music”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 18 Apr 2023:
2
Undulations.
- [...] speed barely exceeded 30 m.p.h. until well beyond Kelty and from the front end the ups-and-downs of the track occasioned by pitfalls are very noticeable.1960 August, Cecil J. Allen, “Locomotive Running Past and Present”, in Trains Illustrated, page 463: