betwixt 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
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

   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