between the hammer and the anvil
between the hammer and the anvil prepositional phrase: with the choice between two unpleasant or distasteful options; in a predicament or quandary.
Prepositional phrase
- With the choice between two unpleasant or distasteful options; in a predicament or quandary.
- Yet for a time the nation was again placed between the democracy of the levellers and the despotism of the Stuarts, — between the hammer and the anvil.1848, Jean Henri Merle d'Aubigné, The Protector, a vindication, page 250
- The sinner / Will testify / They'll suffer / When sacrificed on high / The burning sermons purge their evil words / Between the hammer and the anvil1990, Judas Priest, Between The Hammer and the Anvil
- Synonyms:
- between a rock and a hard place, between Scylla and Charybdis, between the devil and the deep blue sea, 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
between the hammer and the anvil meaning in Bengali and Arabic
between the hammer and the anvil in Bengali
- কোনো বিপত্তি, উভয়সংকটে
between the hammer and the anvil in Arabic
- with the choice between two unpleasant or distasteful options
- بَيْنَ ٱلْمِطْرَقَةِ وَٱلسِّنْدَانِ bayna l-miṭraqati was-sindāni
Synonyms of between the hammer and the anvil
- between a rock and a hard place
- between Scylla and Charybdis
- between the devil and the deep blue sea
- between two fires
- damned if one does and damned if one doesn't
- doomed if you do
- doomed if you don't
- on the horns of a dilemma
- in a cleft stick
- in bad bread
Origin of between the hammer and the anvil
Referring to the metal on a blacksmith's anvil, which is beaten with a hammer.
Questions about between the hammer and the anvil
- What does between the hammer and the anvil mean?
- Between the hammer and the anvil means with the choice between two unpleasant or distasteful options; in a predicament or quandary.
- What is between the hammer and the anvil in Bengali?
- Between the hammer and the anvil in Bengali is কোনো বিপত্তি, উভয়সংকটে. See Between the hammer and the anvil meaning in Bengali.
- What part of speech is between the hammer and the anvil?
- Between the hammer and the anvil is a prepositional phrase.
Words near between the hammer and the anvil in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: between the hammer and the anvil (page history and authors); between the hammer and the anvil (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-between the hammer and the anvil.ogg.
Cite this entry: “between the hammer and the anvil.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/between_the_hammer_and_the_anvil. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.