Word.ws English Dictionary

up the creek

up the creek prepositional phrase: in trouble; in a difficult situation.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (idiomatic) In trouble; in a difficult situation.
    • We'll be up the creek if we lose those files, so we should back them up regularly.
    • “Then we would be up the creek. You can be extradited for grand larceny. Jez you wouldnt^([sic]) have me goin^([sic]) round with dark glasses and false whiskers all my life.”1925, John Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, 3rd section, page 306
    Synonyms:
    up shit creek

up the creek meaning in Kannada

up the creek in Kannada

ಪೇಚಿನಲ್ಲಿ, ಇಕ್ಕಟ್ಟಿನಲ್ಲಿ

Synonyms of up the creek

Forms of up the creek

alternative formup a creek
alternative formup a creek without a paddle
alternative formup the creek without a paddle

Origin of up the creek

American English.

Questions about up the creek

What does up the creek mean?
Up the creek means in trouble; in a difficult situation.
What is up the creek in Kannada?
Up the creek in Kannada is ಪೇಚಿನಲ್ಲಿ, ಇಕ್ಕಟ್ಟಿನಲ್ಲಿ. See Up the creek meaning in Kannada.
What part of speech is up the creek?
Up the creek is a prepositional phrase.

Words near up the creek in the dictionary

  1. up the arse
  2. up the ass
  3. up the booai
  4. up the boohai
  5. up the country people
  6. up the creek
  7. up the creek without a paddle
  8. up the duff
  9. up the flume
  10. up the game
  11. up the gut

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: up the creek (page history and authors); up the creek (Kannada 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-up the creek.ogg.

Cite this entry: “up the creek.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/up_the_creek. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.