Word.ws English Dictionary

box oneself into a corner

box oneself into a corner verb: to create a predicament or problem for oneself; to do something that leaves one with no good alternatives or solutions.

Verb

box oneself into a corner (third-person singular simple present boxes oneself into a corner, present participle boxing oneself into a corner, simple past and past participle boxed oneself into a corner)

  1. (idiomatic) To create a predicament or problem for oneself; to do something that leaves one with no good alternatives or solutions.
    • Brüno was a case of diminishing returns, intermittently amusing but not nearly as bracing or funny as Borat—it didn’t help that Brüno was the most thinly conceived of all his Da Ali G Show characters—and the lead-up to Baron Cohen’s new comedy, The Dictator, made it look like he’d boxed himself...2012 May 15, Scott Tobias, “Film: Reviews: The Dictator”, in The Onion AV Club

Synonyms of box oneself into a corner

Forms of box oneself into a corner

third-person singular presentboxes oneself into a corner
present participleboxing oneself into a corner
past participleboxed oneself into a corner
pastboxed oneself into a corner

Questions about box oneself into a corner

What does box oneself into a corner mean?
Box oneself into a corner means to create a predicament or problem for oneself; to do something that leaves one with no good alternatives or solutions.
What part of speech is box oneself into a corner?
Box oneself into a corner is a verb.
What is the past tense of box oneself into a corner?
The past tense of box oneself into a corner is boxed oneself into a corner.

Words near box oneself into a corner in the dictionary

  1. box of ivories
  2. box of tricks
  3. box off
  4. box office
  5. box offices
  6. box oneself into a corner
  7. box operator
  8. box operators
  9. box out
  10. box party
  11. box plan

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: box oneself into a corner (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-box oneself into a corner.ogg.

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