jackpot

1 chiefly West  a difficult, puzzling, or embarrassing situation from which there is no easy escape <a wily dude who managed to get himself out of one jackpot after another> Synonyms bind, box, catch-22, corner, dilemma, fix, hole, impasse, predicament [chiefly West], jam, mire, pickle, quagmire, rabbit hole, rattrap, spot, sticky wicket, swampRelated Words difficulty, node; hot water, soup; pinch, plight, quandary, scrape, trouble; deadlock, halt, logjam, stalemate, standstill; clutch, crisis, crossroad, emergency, exigency, juncture, strait

2 the total of the bets at stake at one time <once the jackpot hit $100 million, everybody and his cousin was buying lottery tickets> Synonyms jack, pot, poolRelated Words fund, kitty; bet, stake, wager