eight ball
Britishnoun
-
(in pool) the black ball, marked with the number eight
-
in a difficult situation; snookered
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.
A day never passed without me fully aware that we now lived our lives squarely behind the eight ball.
From Salon • May 11, 2025
“It has hurt our snowpack by not adding to it. So we’re behind the eight ball throughout the state.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 31, 2025
Our magic eight ball reads: ask again later.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 9, 2024
What happens to the click economy if a smooth-talking A.I. becomes a strange mutant of a spokesperson and a magic eight ball, or something like an avatar for the sum total of human knowledge?
From Slate • Mar. 1, 2023
We were a proud pair, dropping by the pool hall, playing a quick game of eight ball, and then, as the sky darkened, swaggering down the sidewalk.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
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.
