to wind up in trouble
1
4.8
- phrasal verb
- /wɪnd ʌp ɪn ˈtrʌbəl/
- Informal
:
terminar en problemas
- - And more will wind up in trouble with the law because of something done while they are high on acid, amphetamines, barbiturates, and end up on heroin.
They're telling us, hey, don't go down that line or you're going to wind up in trouble.
- They're telling us, hey, don't go down that line or you're going to wind up in trouble.
Examples
-
But in doing that, you can wind up in trouble with your contemporary audience.
Blog text (18) -
Even though I didn't know the specifics of how she wound up in trouble, it was easy to understand Morgan.
Blog text (31) -
Maybe he thought that if she left school she'd never go back; maybe he thought that if she went traveling she'd wind up in trouble—it was impossible to tell what he thought.
Fiction book (1998) -
If you keep breaking the rules, you will wind up in trouble with the principal.
-
He was warned that his reckless behavior could make him wind up in trouble later.
-
After failing to pay his debts, he wound up in trouble with the creditors.
Synonyms
274
2.6
Experience a problem or difficulty unexpectedly
203
2.7
Face blame or punishment for something you did wrong
200
2.6
Have problems because of what you do
Antonyms
How Troubled
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'to end up in a difficult situation' is partly signalled by the particle 'up' (resulting/completed state) and the clear noun 'in trouble', but the verb 'wind' does not transparently mean 'end' or 'finish' in its basic dictionary sense. As a phrasal verb, 'wind up' requires knowledge of the idiomatic verbal construction, so a B1 learner who only knows the literal constituents may only partially infer the meaning.
Etymology
The phrase wind up in trouble comes from the image of turning a toy or handle to wind it and watching where it finally stops; if it stops in a bad spot, it has 'wound up' there. So, to wind up in trouble means 'to end up in a difficult or bad situation'.