between a rock and a hard place
Cultural
-
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
-
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.
Still, farmers are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
From
Salon
• May 15, 2026
You are between a rock and a hard place.
From
Los Angeles Times
• Apr. 23, 2026
NHS managers said they were between a "rock and a hard place" trying to juggle balancing the books with tackling the hospital backlog, which currently stands at 7.4 million.
From
BBC
• Dec. 11, 2025
“She’s between a rock and a hard place on fiscal,” he notes.
From
Barron's
• Nov. 25, 2025
Anyone who uses this expression more than once a month should be required to send a donation to the ASPCA. between a rock and a hard place.
From
"Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
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.
