in a fix

Idioms  

1. Also,. In a difficult or embarrassing situation, in a dilemma. For example, I was really in a fix when I missed the plane, or Lost and out of gas—how did we get in such a pickle? or John had lost all his money in the crap game—now he was in a spot. The first of these colloquial usages dates from the early 1800s; pickle in the sense of a mess or quandary, sometimes put as in a pretty pickle, dates from the 1500s; spot, also put as, dates from the early 1900s. Also see in a bind; in deep, def. 2; in the soup; in trouble; on the spot.

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Example Sentences

"For many of us they've been the scene of memorable moments in our own lives from furtive conversations with first boyfriends to desperate calls home when we've been in a fix," she said.

From BBC • Mar. 3, 2023

Since potato gnocchi typically calls for boiled-then-riced potatoes, flour, and perhaps egg yolks, it makes sense that you could utilize your leftover mash for gnocchi in a fix, right?

From Salon • Nov. 8, 2021

McCormack, a Bromley-based businessman and an increasingly distant and dismal steward of Dulwich Hamlet, was in a fix.

From The Guardian • Oct. 26, 2018

Those of us who hanker for the return for some part at least of the gentleman are in a fix.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 29, 2016

“They’s a matched pair and I’ll be in a fix if'n anythang happens to’m! Be careful, hear.”

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns