See back to the wall on Wiktionary
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{
"ref": "1901, Frank Norris, chapter 8, in The Octopus:",
"text": "From this place—so he told himself—had emanated that policy of extortion, oppression and injustice that little by little had shouldered the ranchers from their rights, till, their backs to the wall, exasperated and despairing they had turned and fought and died.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1910, Edith Wharton, “The Legend”, in Tales of Men and Ghosts:",
"text": "Bernald felt that his extreme docility in such matters was proportioned to the force of resistance which, for nearly half a life-time, had kept him, with his back to the wall, fighting alone against the powers of darkness.",
"type": "quote"
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{
"ref": "2006 January 14, Bobby Ghosh, “Why Iran Won't Back Down”, in Time:",
"text": "His back to the wall, Ahmedinajad resorted to the tactic favored by cornered politicians everywhere: distract attention from yourself by pointing to a bogeyman.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2016 May 22, Phil McNulty, “Crystal Palace 1-2 Manchester United”, in BBC:",
"text": "The England international may not have been at his best but it was his intervention when United had their backs to the wall and trailed that dragged them back into a cup final they were in danger of losing.",
"type": "quote"
}
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"A very difficult situation with no beneficial options available for action."
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"(idiomatic) A very difficult situation with no beneficial options available for action."
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"word": "go to the wall"
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{
"word": "retreat to the wall"
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{
"word": "up against the wall"
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"translations": [
{
"code": "da",
"lang": "Danish",
"sense": "very difficult situation",
"word": "med ryggen mod muren"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "very difficult situation",
"word": "selkä seinää vasten"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "very difficult situation",
"word": "être dos au mur"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "very difficult situation",
"word": "mit dem Rücken zur Wand"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "very difficult situation",
"word": "spalle al muro"
},
{
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "very difficult situation",
"word": "med ryggen mot veggen"
},
{
"code": "nn",
"lang": "Norwegian Nynorsk",
"sense": "very difficult situation",
"word": "med ryggen mot veggen"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "very difficult situation",
"word": "przyparty do muru"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "very difficult situation",
"word": "plecami do ściany"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "very difficult situation",
"word": "pod ścianą"
},
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"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "very difficult situation",
"word": "kuyruğu kapana kısılmak"
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{
"ref": "2006 January 14, Bobby Ghosh, “Why Iran Won't Back Down”, in Time:",
"text": "His back to the wall, Ahmedinajad resorted to the tactic favored by cornered politicians everywhere: distract attention from yourself by pointing to a bogeyman.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2016 May 22, Phil McNulty, “Crystal Palace 1-2 Manchester United”, in BBC:",
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"translations": [
{
"code": "da",
"lang": "Danish",
"sense": "very difficult situation",
"word": "med ryggen mod muren"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "very difficult situation",
"word": "selkä seinää vasten"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "very difficult situation",
"word": "être dos au mur"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "very difficult situation",
"word": "mit dem Rücken zur Wand"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "very difficult situation",
"word": "spalle al muro"
},
{
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "very difficult situation",
"word": "med ryggen mot veggen"
},
{
"code": "nn",
"lang": "Norwegian Nynorsk",
"sense": "very difficult situation",
"word": "med ryggen mot veggen"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "very difficult situation",
"word": "przyparty do muru"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "very difficult situation",
"word": "plecami do ściany"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "very difficult situation",
"word": "pod ścianą"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "very difficult situation",
"word": "kuyruğu kapana kısılmak"
}
],
"word": "back to the wall"
}
Download raw JSONL data for back to the wall meaning in All languages combined (4.0kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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