deep end
19
5.6
- noun
- /dip ɛnd/
- Informal
:
situación difícil
- After her first presentation, she realized she had been placed in the deep end without enough preparation.
Because if you really feel like just diving head first into the deep end, that is an option for you.
- Because if you really feel like just diving head first into the deep end, that is an option for you.
- And he's trying to get her to understand her powers, but he's doing so by like just throwing her in the deep end and hurting her.
- But so, yeah, we went from SEAL teams to young kids right into the kind of like the deep end entrepreneurship wise.
- We did jump in the deep end, like literally when we met each other, we told each other on day one that we loved each other.
- I mean, it is as abrupt as let's just say you jump into the deep end of a swimming pool in ice cold water.
- I knew like, that was my time to disappear on my own and throw myself in at the deep end.
- So we're going to get into the deep end is some conflict, maybe share some of our own conflicts with each other and with our family.
Examples
-
I was thrown into the deep end, so to speak, and expected to learn how to swim with the entire world watching.
Academic text (2010) -
We drove in a Karmann Ghia from New York to Los Angeles and I was dumped into the deep end of Hollywood.
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So, one day you just decided to jump into the deep end?
-
Best way to learn how to swim is to jump in at the deep end.
-
Could we put some newer leaders, managers into the deep end and get them to take on more of this plan?
-
Unless you truly are experienced, there's little point in jumping in at the deep end.
Academic text (2009) -
Not enjoying it at all, I feel like we've been thrown in at the deep end in a major way.
Academic text (2011) -
One day, I trotted over to the pool and jumped into the deep end.
Fiction book (1991) -
You won't just hear a bunch of theories and get thrown into the deep end to flounder on your own.
Blog text (29) -
Shane and I talk about jumping in the deep end and learning to swim, something Shane is accustomed to.
Blog text (29)
Synonyms
3
5.9
A situation that causes serious trouble
1
8.2
To have to do something difficult without preparation
Antonyms
How Challenging
- Informal
- Informal
19
5.6
∞
1.6
∞
3.1
∞
1.0
263
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The figurative meaning 'a difficult or challenging situation' is a metaphorical extension of the literal 'deep end' (the deep part of a pool) and can be partly inferred from knowing 'deep' and 'end'—being in the deep end suggests being out of one's depth. However, the idiomatic usage requires a pragmatic mapping from the physical image to social/work situations, so a B1 learner may not fully predict the sense without prior exposure.
Etymology
The noun deep end comes from the deep part at the end of a swimming pool, where you cannot touch the bottom and must swim. So, 'in the deep end' means being in a hard situation where you must manage even if you are not ready.