out of one's depth
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.16 in modern English
23
Scrabble Score
14
Letters
2
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
In a situation which one is poorly prepared or unprepared to handle.
Example Sentences
- "The team's first game was against the league champions; they were out of their depth and knew it."
- "She doesn’t know Joker, she’s out of her depth. I need to save her."
- "Weak management and a small team of civil servants who were out of their depth have been roundly blamed for the £4 billion overspend on London's Elizabeth line (Crossrail) and its opening four years late in May 2022."
- "Hatmaker described a similar reckoning: sitting in her attorney’s office, out of her depth, asking him to explain her finances “like a child.”"
Synonyms
in over one's head
out of one's league