between the devil and the deep blue sea
1
9.0
- idiom
- Informal
:
entre la espada y la pared
- She found herself between the devil and the deep blue sea when both job offers meant moving away from family.
Examples
-
He felt between the devil and the deep blue sea trying to pick between disappointing his boss or his team.
-
Negotiators were between the devil and the deep blue sea, with neither option proving acceptable.
-
Don't put me between the devil and the deep blue sea again!
-
I feel between the devil and the deep blue sea right now.
-
Many workers find themselves between the devil and the deep blue sea when choosing between a job they dislike and unemployment.
-
She felt between the devil and the deep blue sea as she had to decide between accepting a low-paying job or remaining jobless.
-
When presented with two equally bad options, he realized he was between the devil and the deep blue sea.
Synonyms
258
4.2
A situation where you must choose between two or more bad options
18
9.6
A situation where you cannot win because rules block every choice
9
6.7
A difficult situation where you have no good choice
1
8.2
Facing a choice between two equally bad options
1
7.5
In a difficult situation with no clear way out
To have to choose between two equally bad options while people on both sides pressure you
You must choose between two dangerous options
A hard situation where no choice seems good
Surface Forms
Morphology
between + the + devil + and + the + deep + blue + sea
Although the structure 'between ... and ...' signals a choice, the specific referents 'devil' and 'deep blue sea' are figurative and culturally charged; their literal meanings (an evil being and a body of water) do not yield the sense 'forced to choose between two unpleasant options.' This idiomatic, metaphorical imagery is not reliably derivable by an average B1 learner even if they know the individual words, so the expression is opaque.
Etymology
Between the devil and the deep blue sea may come from old sailors. One popular story says sailors had to work on a narrow board with the dangerous devil, a name for a hard part of the ship, on one side and the deep blue sea on the other, so they were stuck between two dangers, which is why the phrase now means 'having to choose between two bad options'.