The expressions "throw shade", "throwing shade", or simply "shade", are slang terms for a certain type of insult, often nonverbal. Journalist Anna Holmes called shade "the art of the sidelong insult".

What does throwing shade mean slang?

You don't have to watch RuPaul's Drag Race to have heard the expression throw shade, or sometimes just shade. Shade is a subtle, sneering expression of contempt for or disgust with someone—sometimes verbal, and sometimes not.

How do you throw someone shade?