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Showing results for no-win situation. Search instead for Tough situation.
Synonyms

no-win situation

Idioms  

  1. A situation certain to end in failure or disappointment, as in If the in-laws visit them or they visit the in-laws, either way they see it as a no-win situation. [c. 1960]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

I’ve put machines, and my friends and family, in a no-win situation.

From Slate • May 6, 2026

The end result: Renters get caught in something of a no-win situation.

From MarketWatch • Nov. 4, 2025

Building a universally pleasing story around Section 31 might be the Kobayashi Maru of the Trek universe — a no-win situation.

From Salon • Jan. 24, 2025

From his time working for the BBC, he said he could see "all-too-well the no-win situation it often finds itself in".

From BBC • Aug. 23, 2023

I felt like I was in a no-win situation, but the battle would have been much harder to wage if I hadn't had my closest girlfriends in the trenches with me.

From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.