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Synonyms

tiger by the tail

Idioms  

  1. Something too difficult to manage or cope with, as in You know nothing about the commodities market; you'll end up catching a tiger by the tail. This colorful metaphor conjures up the image of grabbing a powerful but fierce animal by the tail, only to have it turn on one. [Second half of 1900s]

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.

“I told Kevin, ‘You know you got a tiger by the tail here.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 20, 2022

"They just grabbed a tiger by the tail, and they don't know what to do with it."

From BBC • Jan. 28, 2014

Developing a devoted fan base may seem like the endgame for any producer of pop culture, but one false move can make it seem like having a tiger by the tail.

From Time • Feb. 24, 2012

So the more time that passes, the more I am convinced that we've got a tiger by the tail here.

From The Guardian • Oct. 19, 2010

Jillson said he’d tried to fight, but if Milligan had really resisted, wouldn’t his captors look as if they’d caught a tiger by the tail?

From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart

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.