stuck in the mud
3
6.3
- idiom
- Informal
:
atrapado en el barro
- Federal Reserve policymakers wrap up a two-day meeting Wednesday with few options to rev up an economy that may be "stuck in the mud," as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke recently told Congress.
- get stuck in the mud
Examples
-
I can come up with just as many people that are absolutely stuck in the mud as men, as are women.
-
Does it conjure a sense of defeat, of being stuck in the mud and spinning your wheels?
Academic text (2011) -
I felt like we were kind of stuck in the mud a little bit until then, but having that touchdown pass and getting the crowd back into the game, I felt like it was a really big momentum shifter in our favor.
Blog text (24) -
After the heavy rain, the truck was stuck in the mud and couldn't move.
-
The project has been stuck in the mud for weeks due to lack of funding.
-
If she doesn't change her approach, she will remain stuck in the mud in her career.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Not able to move because something holds or traps you
21
5.8
To become stuck and unable to make progress because of problems
16
6.7
Stuck doing the same boring things and not making progress for a long time
15
6.5
Unable to continue because progress has stopped
5
5.8
To get stuck and stop making progress
1
7.8
In a bad situation that stops progress like being stuck in mud
Not able to move forward because of a messy, difficult situation
Deeply stuck in a difficult situation that is hard to leave
Feeling unhappy and unable to make progress in work or life
Antonyms
How Stuck
- Informal
3
6.3
- Informal
21
5.8
1
1.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'stuck' (unable to move) + 'in the mud' (physically trapped by sticky earth) yields the literal sense and readily supports the obvious figurative extension 'unable to make progress'. This physical-to-figurative metaphor is common across languages and follows normal English composition patterns, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would likely understand it.
Etymology
Stuck in the mud comes from a simple image: a wheel or a person's feet sinking into wet mud so they are held fast and cannot move because they are stuck. That's why we use it now to say someone or something is 'unable to make progress' or is blocked by problems.