Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

between a rock and a hard place

Cultural  

  1. Faced with two equally dangerous or difficult choices or circumstances: “Trying to please two supervisors is like being between a rock and a hard place.” This phrase dates from the early twentieth century.

between a rock and a hard place Idioms  

  1. Also,. Between two equally difficult or unacceptable choices. For example, Trying to please both my boss and his supervisor puts me between a rock and a hard place. The rock and hard place version is the newest of these synonymous phrases, dating from the early 1900s, and alludes to being caught or crushed between two rocks. The oldest is Scylla and Charybdis, which in Homer's Odyssey signified a monster on a rock (Scylla) and a fatal whirlpool (Charybdis), between which Odysseus had to sail through a narrow passage. It was used figuratively by the Roman writer Virgil and many writers since. The devil in devil and deep blue sea, according to lexicographer Charles Earle Funk, referred to a seam around a ship's hull near the waterline, which, if a sailor was trying to caulk it in heavy seas, would cause him to fall overboard. Others disagree, however, and believe the phrase simply alludes to a choice between hellfire with the devil and drowning in deep waters.

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.

Andrew Procter, from the National Eczema Society, says that while steroid creams can still be very effective for the majority, patients are "stuck between a rock and a hard place".

From BBC • Mar. 28, 2026

As such, cryptocurrencies were caught between a rock and a hard place early Wednesday.

From Barron's • Mar. 25, 2026

The Palm Springs Art Museum has apparently wedged itself firmly between a rock and a hard place.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 18, 2025

Nor are you the only person who feels caught between a rock and a hard place.

From MarketWatch • Nov. 13, 2025

Another of Grandma’s sayings came to mind: stuck between a rock and a hard place.

From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles

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.