Word.ws English Dictionary

caught between two stools

caught between two stools phrase: unable to fit into either of two conflicting categories, and as a result likely to fail.

Phrase

caught between two stools

  1. Unable to fit into either of two conflicting categories, and as a result likely to fail.
    • Scientists are caught between two stools. On the one hand, they have been brought up to apply rigorous experimental procedures to precisely defined problems with results that have to meet standards of peer review. On the other hand, they are being told that such reductionism is insufficient and...2011, Mohammed Saad, Girma Zawdie, Theory and Practice of Triple Helix Model in Developing Countries
    • No matter how hard they tried to clarify their position, the universalists found themselves “caught between two stools”—that is, Nazism and Austrofascism— rejected by the former and rejecting the latter.2014, Janek Wasserman, Black Vienna: The Radical Right in the Red City, 1918–1938

Questions about caught between two stools

What does caught between two stools mean?
Caught between two stools means unable to fit into either of two conflicting categories, and as a result likely to fail.
What part of speech is caught between two stools?
Caught between two stools is a phrase.

Words near caught between two stools in the dictionary

  1. caught a wave
  2. caught air
  3. caught and bowled
  4. caught behind
  5. caught behinds
  6. caught between two stools
  7. caught big air
  8. caught cold
  9. caught dust
  10. caught feelings
  11. caught fire

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: caught between two stools (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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