make bricks without straw
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.58 in modern English
45
Scrabble Score
22
Letters
4
Syllables
14
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To accomplish a task without the proper materials or under unreasonable conditions; to do the impossible.
Example Sentences
- "The founders did more than "make bricks without straw; they dreamed of a great cathedral and laid the foundations for it."
- "To call on the owners of little farms, the tradesmen, labourers and sailors to pay their proportion of a [£20,000] tax, when perhaps there is not half that sum in circulation is something harder than being forced to make bricks without straw,” he wrote; "it is to make them without clay.""
- "The problems that we may find ourselves confronted with may be similar to a make bricks without straw condition, imposed by not only others but in large measure ourselves."