in a pinch

Idioms  

1. In an emergency, when hard-pressed, as in This music isn't what I would have chosen, but it will do in a pinch. This term dates from the late 1400s, when it was put as at a pinch (a usage still current in Britain); pinch alludes to straitened circumstances.

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Example Sentences

Potential beneficiaries of this crunch could be coal companies in South Africa, Australia, and Indonesia that Asian economies may turn to in a pinch.

From Barron's • Mar. 9, 2026

Rice is a given—I nearly always have extra bags on hand—and in a pinch I could grill the chicken, sauté the beef, add some vegetables, and eat variations on miso-butter rice all week long.

From Salon • Jan. 11, 2026

On evenings when one kid was studying for a big test, Amy or I would sit and read in the child’s room, making it easier to ask an uncomfortable question in a pinch.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 19, 2025

Those are tactics “neither employers nor employees like but companies resort to in a pinch to hold down premium increases,” he noted.

From MarketWatch • Oct. 22, 2025

I did have a few cans of meat—three to be exact—and also some canned hash that he would have eaten in a pinch.

From "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien