a chip on your shoulder

What it means

To have a chip on your shoulder means to carry a persistent grudge or sense of grievance, often because you feel you've been treated unfairly or looked down on. People with a chip on their shoulder tend to be defensive or easily angered, expecting criticism even where none is intended.

Examples

• Ever since he was passed over for promotion, he's had a chip on his shoulder.
• She walked in with a chip on her shoulder, ready to argue with everyone.
• Try not to take a chip on your shoulder into the interview tomorrow.
• He's brilliant, but that chip on his shoulder makes him hard to work with.

Where it comes from

The phrase comes from a 19th-century American custom in which a boy spoiling for a fight would balance a wood chip on his shoulder and dare another to knock it off.

Related idioms