the pits

Idioms  

1. The worst possible situation, as in Spending your birthday working alone is the pits, or That job is the pits. The allusion in this term is unclear. Some think it refers to coal pits, others to armpits, and still others to the area beside an auto racecourse, also called the pits, where cars are serviced during a race. [Second half of 1900s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

the pits

Voters who thought they were getting change when they elected him in 2025 are disappointed, leaving his approval rating in the pits.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026

Prepare the peaches: Peel the peaches, if desired, then remove the pits and roughly chop the fruit.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026

Marion Brown, 90, who worked at the colliery as a teenager in the 1950s says it's an important way of keeping alive the memory of those people who worked and sometimes died at the pits.

From BBC ● May 12, 2026

Exiting the pits in the closing stages of the race, Zanardi made a mistake and spun on to the track.

From BBC ● May 2, 2026

A sleep deeper than the hospital drugs; deeper than the pits of plums, steadier than the condor’s wing; more tranquil than the curve of eggs.

From "Sula" by Toni Morrison