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Glite Dictionary
in the hole

in the hole

12 8.0
To owe more money than you have
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : estar endeudado
  • This is a city that was $30 million "in the hole" for last year's budget.
  • trillion in the hole
  • billion in the hole
  • million in the hole

Like I'm if like tip, I'm probably still in the hole with tip.

Examples

  • Banks are still too big to fail and have not substantially changed since 2008 when they put the US in the hole.

    Blog text (18)

  • We're trillions in the hole and we haven't had a budget for three years.

    Blog text (22)

  • Why jump back into the same policies that put us in the hole?

    Blog text (25)

  • We might as well face it, we're getting deeper in the hole all the time.

    Green Fire (1954)

  • Corinne, we are two million dollars in the hole.

    Chances Are (1989)

  • Look at the Post Office: 15 billion in the hole; most companies don't have the government to fund them.

    Blog text (7)

  • - I'm still 20 grand in the hole with Nestor and you owe that cowboy up there a serious chunk of change.

    Dirty Lies (2016)

  • The federally subsidized program was already $17 billion in the hole to taxpayers before Sandy hit.

    Blog text (27)

  • Add more money for missile defense systems and a modernization program that takes advantage of the military-technological revolution, and you're back in the hole.

    Academic text (1996)

  • The recent investments have left us in the hole for over $50,000.

Synonyms

hand-to-mouth
vsin the hole
  • Informal
1 6.8

To live with only enough money to pay for basic needs and no savings

also covers owing money and broader financial problems not only lacking savings
in straitened circumstances
vsin the hole
  • Formal
8.6

A person who has little money and cannot buy basic things

is a more informal phrase for the same financial lack
pinched
vsin the hole
6.5

A person who has little money to pay basic costs

covers longer term disadvantage or actual owing not only immediate strain
down on one's uppers
vsin the hole
  • Archaic
9.9

Being very short of money and struggling to pay for things

covers less severe financial trouble or simple debt rather than deep poverty
insolvent
vsin the hole
  • Specialized
7.2

A person who cannot pay their debts because they have too little money

describes general debt or disadvantage rather than formal inability to pay

Antonyms

in the black
9 5.5

Having more money than you owe

How Indebted

insolvent
  • Specialized
18 7.7
in the hole
  • Informal
12 8.0
in the red
7 4.9
in the black
9 5.5

Surface Forms

in the hole main

Morphology

in + the + hole

The literal constituents ('in' + 'the' + 'hole') give a spatial image of being inside a hole, which can metaphorically suggest being in a disadvantage or deficit; however, the specific financial sense 'in debt' is a metaphorical extension that is not fully predictable from the parts alone. Because the connection relies on a conventional metaphor (hole = deficit) that some learners may not infer without exposure, this is best classified as partially transparent.

Etymology

In the hole may come from the simple image of being in a hole, stuck below ground and hard to get out of. So it came to mean 'in debt' or 'in a bad financial position'.