be (caught) in a cleft stickBritish EnglishBrEMI to be in a very difficult situation in which any action or decision you make will cause problems 进退两难,陷于窘境
Examples from the Corpus
be (caught) in a cleft stick• So the developing countries are caught in a cleft stick.• Now the localauthoritiesare caught in a cleft stick, hostages to their own politicalprocess.