between a rock and a hard place

Prepositional phrase

1. (idiomatic) In a difficult and inescapable position.
   • After meeting again that afternoon with Donna, Wilbur had advised her that she was indeed between a rock and a hard place. She could not hope to recover and build back the lost business until the suits were settled, and it appeared that the only way to settle the suits without going to court was to...2008, David Merde, Beyond Final Arrangements, page 511
   • A dish gone awry after adding the wrong ingredient. Chewing your way through this won't be fun, but it will fill you up when you're between a rock and a hard place.2017 March 3, Nintendo EPD, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Nintendo, description for Rock-Hard Food
2. (idiomatic) Having the choice between two unpleasant or distasteful options; in a predicament or quandary.
   • Husbands, it seems to me, are caught between the Rock of Feminism and the Hard Place of their own marriages […]1970, David Sim, Tangent
   • If Washington Mutual needs to raise capital quickly, it will very likely find itself between a rock and a hard place, because credit markets have all but closed their doors to troubled banks.2008 September 11, Eric Dash, Geraldine Fabrikant, “Washington Mutual stock falls on investor fears”, in New York Times, retrieved 24 Aug 2012

   Synonyms:

   between Scylla and Charybdis, between the devil and the deep blue sea, between the hammer and the anvil, between two fires, damned if one does and damned if one doesn't, doomed if you do, doomed if you don't, in a cleft stick, in bad bread, on the horns of a dilemma