last resort

Idioms  

1. A final expedient or recourse to achieve some end or settle a difficulty. For example, If you don't improve, we'll try this new medication as a last resort. This term originally referred to a court of law from which there was no appeal. [Late 1600s]

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Example Sentences

It is a court of last resort designed to hold the most powerful to account when domestic courts are unable or unwilling to do so.

From BBC

As for America, it very much remains the world’s importer of last resort.

From The Wall Street Journal

The crisis has heaped more pressure on the state-chartered Fair Plan, an insurer of last resort for desperate homeowners.

From The Wall Street Journal

If you do insist on tapping your retirement, use the cash, then move onto your Roth and, only as a last resort, dip into your traditional IRA.

From MarketWatch

“Maybe you should just tell them the truth,” Chip had suggested, as a last resort, in desperation.

From Literature