double bind
Americannoun
-
Psychology. a situation in which a person is given conflicting cues, especially by a parent, such that to obey one cue is to disobey the other.
noun
Etymology
Origin of double bind
An Americanism dating back to 1955–60
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.
This creates a vicious double bind for average employees.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2025
The group dynamic is what interests Young most because what lies beneath is an inherent "double bind".
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2025
Even more so than writers, actors face a double bind when it comes to labor disputes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2023
It’s the double bind of representation: Blindness should be incidental, just one of many qualities that make up a character, but at the same time, underemphasizing blindness trivializes the stigma and marginalization it carries.
From New York Times ● Jul. 1, 2021
To me, it felt like a sanity-warping double bind.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
