| 释义 |
desperate straits
Thesaurus| Noun | 1. | desperate straits - a state of extreme distressdire straitsstraits, strait, pass - a bad or difficult situation or state of affairs |
desperate straits
desperate straitsA very difficult situation. The noun “strait,” usually in the plural (straits), has been used since the 1600s to mean a dilemma of some kind. One of the earliest pairings with “desperate” was in Harriet Martineau’s The History of England during the Thirty Years’ Peace (1849): “Never were Whig rulers reduced to more desperate straits.” Today the term is used both seriously and ironically, as in “We’re in desperate straits today—the newspaper never arrived.” See also: desperate, straitdesperate straits
Related to desperate straits: straitenSynonyms for desperate straitsnoun a state of extreme distressSynonymsRelated Words |