in a pickle

prepositional phrase

In a difficult situation or a troubling quandary.

Similar
in a fixtroubled
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Meanings

prepositional phrase
  1. idiomaticinformalIn a difficult situation or a troubling quandary.

    Cody Ko, a YouTube star with 5.7 million subscribers, found himself in a pickle in May.

    2021 September 1, Taylor Lorenz, “She’s the Investor Guru for Online Creators”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
    1 more example

    How cam'ſt thou in this pickle? / Tri. I haue bin in ſuch a pickle ſince I ſaw you laſt, / That I feare me will neuer out of my bones:

    1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 18, column 2

    Synonyms: in a fix, troubled

Synonyms & antonyms

prepositional phraseIn a difficult situation or a troubling quandary.

Similar
in a fixtroubled
Also see
in a stewtied in knots

Origin

The term refers to being in pickling solution, presumably unpleasant. It was first used in English by William Shakespeare in The Tempest (1611), although the phrase had been used in Dutch earlier.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

in a pickle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20a%20pickle

MLA

“in a pickle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20a%20pickle. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “in a pickle,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20a%20pickle.

Source: in a pickle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.