"box oneself into a corner" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "boxes oneself into a corner",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "boxing oneself into a corner",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "boxed oneself into a corner",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "boxed oneself into a corner",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "box oneself into a corner (third-person singular simple present boxes oneself into a corner, present participle boxing oneself into a corner, simple past and past participle boxed oneself into a corner)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2012 May 15, Scott Tobias, “Film: Reviews: The Dictator”, in The Onion AV Club",
          "text": "Brüno was a case of diminishing returns, intermittently amusing but not nearly as bracing or funny as Borat—it didn’t help that Brüno was the most thinly conceived of all his Da Ali G Show characters—and the lead-up to Baron Cohen’s new comedy, The Dictator, made it look like he’d boxed himself into a corner.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To create a predicament or problem for oneself; to do something that leaves one with no good alternatives or solutions."
      ],
      "id": "en-box_oneself_into_a_corner-en-verb-ivI773mZ",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To create a predicament or problem for oneself; to do something that leaves one with no good alternatives or solutions."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "back oneself into a corner"
        },
        {
          "word": "paint oneself into a corner"
        },
        {
          "word": "write oneself into a corner"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-box oneself into a corner.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/4d/En-au-box_oneself_into_a_corner.ogg/En-au-box_oneself_into_a_corner.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/En-au-box_oneself_into_a_corner.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "box oneself into a corner"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "boxes oneself into a corner",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "boxing oneself into a corner",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "boxed oneself into a corner",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "boxed oneself into a corner",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "box oneself into a corner (third-person singular simple present boxes oneself into a corner, present participle boxing oneself into a corner, simple past and past participle boxed oneself into a corner)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2012 May 15, Scott Tobias, “Film: Reviews: The Dictator”, in The Onion AV Club",
          "text": "Brüno was a case of diminishing returns, intermittently amusing but not nearly as bracing or funny as Borat—it didn’t help that Brüno was the most thinly conceived of all his Da Ali G Show characters—and the lead-up to Baron Cohen’s new comedy, The Dictator, made it look like he’d boxed himself into a corner.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To create a predicament or problem for oneself; to do something that leaves one with no good alternatives or solutions."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To create a predicament or problem for oneself; to do something that leaves one with no good alternatives or solutions."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-box oneself into a corner.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/4d/En-au-box_oneself_into_a_corner.ogg/En-au-box_oneself_into_a_corner.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/En-au-box_oneself_into_a_corner.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "back oneself into a corner"
    },
    {
      "word": "paint oneself into a corner"
    },
    {
      "word": "write oneself into a corner"
    }
  ],
  "word": "box oneself into a corner"
}