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Synonyms

in a bind

Idioms  

  1. Also,. In a difficult, threatening, or embarrassing position; also, unable to solve a dilemma. For example, He's put us in a bind: we can't refuse, but at the same time we can't fill the order, or Jim's in a box; he can't afford to pay what he owes us, or He quit without giving notice and now we're really in a hole, or We always end up in a jam during the holiday season, or He's in a tight corner with those new customers, or We'll be in a tight spot unless we can find another thousand dollars. All these colloquial terms allude to places from which one can't easily extricate oneself. The phrase using bind was first recorded in 1851; box, 1865; jam, 1914; tight spot, 1852. Also see in a fix.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

This puts victimized taxpayers in a bind, Camp told MarketWatch.

From MarketWatch

However, investors are also hyper focused on the companies they think could be put in a bind as the tech continues to perform better and better.

From Barron's

"But it really does put the US automakers in a bind, because nobody else is going to want to buy American cars."

From BBC

This all leaves the Federal Reserve in a bind.

From Barron's

The bond vigilantes —to borrow a term economist Ed Yardeni used to describe the activist fixed-income investors who tried to rein in inflation in the 1980s—have European governments in a bind already.

From Barron's

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.