Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

between the devil and the deep blue sea

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.11 in modern English

Syllables: be-tween the dev-il and the deep- blue sea
IPA

53

Scrabble Score

32

Letters

4

Syllables

14

Unique Chars

Meaning

prep_phrase

Between undesirable alternatives.

Example Sentences

"Talking about the old Players' Union, it reminds me that at one meeting we had, a player stated that if a club had a horse they wanted to part with, some one would have to find the horse in fodder until the negotiations were finished. A player is during that time between the devil and the deep blue sea, and has to entirely support himself during that period, and I have known many excellent players give up the game for this reason."
"“I hope it's a funny hangin',” said Skeeter, serious again. “'Pears to me that it's a even bet whether I get hung or killed with a bullet. Kinda between the devil and the deep blue sea, as my dad used to say. I ain't got much choice, I reckon, unless it is to get out of town, and I hates to be herded.”"

Inflected Forms

betwixt the devil and the deep blue sea (alternative) the devil and the deep blue sea (alternative)

Phrases

devil to pay, and no pitch hot devil to pay the devil to pay and no pitch hot or ready devil seam between a rock and a hard place Hobson's choice lesser of two evils

Frequently Paired Words

devil to pay, and no pitch hot devil to pay the devil to pay and no pitch hot or ready devil seam between a rock and a hard place Hobson's choice lesser of two evils

Synonyms

between a rock and a hard place 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

Questions

What does between the devil and the deep blue sea mean?: Between undesirable alternatives.

How to pronounce between the devil and the deep blue sea

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