paint oneself into a corner

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Get oneself into a difficulty from which one can't extricate oneself. For example, By volunteering to do more work in the office and then taking a freelance job, George has painted himself into a corner. This idiom uses the graphic image of painting all of the floor except for the corner one stands in, so that one cannot leave without stepping on wet paint.

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Words nearby paint oneself into a corner

painter, painterly, painter's colic, paint horse, painting, paint oneself into a corner, paint pot, paint roller, paint stripper, paint the town red, paintwork

How to use paint oneself into a corner in a sentence

ROME — What does it take for a Hollywood A-lister to get a private audience with Pope Francis?
Pope Francis Has the Pleasure of Meeting Angelina Jolie for a Few Seconds|Barbie Latza Nadeau|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The speaker conjures up centuries of collective sagacity, aligning oneself with an eternal, inarguable good.
Politicians Only Love Journalists When They're Dead|Luke O’Neil|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
So I drove around the corner to the trailhead of the logging road that led back to the crash site.
The 7-Year-Old Plane Crash Survivor’s Brutal Journey Through the Woods|James Higdon|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Yes, Byrd—dead four-and-a-half years now—was a Kleagle in the Ku Klux Klan.
Steve Scalise and the Right’s Ridiculous Racial Blame Game|Michael Tomasky|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST

By the time it concluded with a sing-a-long of “XO,” Beyoncé had done the rare thing.
Bow Down, Bitches: How Beyoncé Turned an Elevator Brawl Into a Perfect Year|Kevin Fallon|December 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But Lucy had noted, out of the corner of her watchful eye, the arrival of Miss Grains, indignant and perspiring.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills
Now-a-days it is the bankrupt who flouts, and his too confiding creditors who are jeered and laughed at.
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley
Cheap as they are, they are a poorer speculation than even corner lots in a lithographic city of Nebraska or Oregon.
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley
He felt himself the meanest, vilest thing a-crawl upon this sinful earth, and she—dear God!
St. Martin's Summer|Rafael Sabatini
She apparently prefers to paint single figures of women and young girls, but her works include a variety of subjects.
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D.|Clara Erskine Clement