"behind the eight-ball" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "Thought to derive from the game of Kelly pool, in which players assigned balls numerically higher than 8 — that is, balls that are behind the 8 ball in order — have little possibility of winning, or from eight-ball pool, where one cannot contact the eight ball on a shot before it is the legal ball, frustrating shots, or more generally, from the fact that the 8 ball is considered harder to aim at because of its color.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "behind the eight-ball",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "behind the eight-ball",
      "name": "en-prep phrase"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "After his last two projects failed, he was really behind the eight-ball."
        },
        {
          "text": "He was desperate, playing behind the eight-ball."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In a difficult situation or tight spot; at a disadvantage."
      ],
      "id": "en-behind_the_eight-ball-en-prep_phrase-KYsJBnPu",
      "links": [
        [
          "difficult",
          "difficult"
        ],
        [
          "tight spot",
          "tight spot"
        ],
        [
          "disadvantage",
          "disadvantage"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) In a difficult situation or tight spot; at a disadvantage."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "sense": "in a difficult situation",
          "word": "snookered"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Kelly pool#\"Behind the eight ball\""
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-behind the eight-ball.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/3d/En-au-behind_the_eight-ball.ogg/En-au-behind_the_eight-ball.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/En-au-behind_the_eight-ball.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "behind the eight-ball"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "Thought to derive from the game of Kelly pool, in which players assigned balls numerically higher than 8 — that is, balls that are behind the 8 ball in order — have little possibility of winning, or from eight-ball pool, where one cannot contact the eight ball on a shot before it is the legal ball, frustrating shots, or more generally, from the fact that the 8 ball is considered harder to aim at because of its color.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "behind the eight-ball",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "behind the eight-ball",
      "name": "en-prep phrase"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English prepositional phrases",
        "English terms with audio links"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "After his last two projects failed, he was really behind the eight-ball."
        },
        {
          "text": "He was desperate, playing behind the eight-ball."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In a difficult situation or tight spot; at a disadvantage."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "difficult",
          "difficult"
        ],
        [
          "tight spot",
          "tight spot"
        ],
        [
          "disadvantage",
          "disadvantage"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) In a difficult situation or tight spot; at a disadvantage."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Kelly pool#\"Behind the eight ball\""
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-behind the eight-ball.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/3d/En-au-behind_the_eight-ball.ogg/En-au-behind_the_eight-ball.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/En-au-behind_the_eight-ball.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "in a difficult situation",
      "word": "snookered"
    }
  ],
  "word": "behind the eight-ball"
}