Definition of DOUBLE BIND

Examples of double bind in a Sentence

the double bind faced by every politician: responding to scurrilous charges only gives them unwarranted publicity; not responding to such charges is often interpreted as an admission of guilt

Recent Examples on the Web This combination — an erratic and impeachment-threatened Republican president, and his increasingly radical Democratic opponents — puts U.S. business in a double bind. — Karl Smith, chicagotribune.com, "Trump’s impeachment is already hurting the economy," 2 Oct. 2019 Gould said there was a double bind: the organization actually could not negotiate earnings and benefits, since those are already set by the statute creating the organization. — Carolyn Said, SFChronicle.com, "Uber circulates new gig-work bill as alternative to AB5," 9 Sep. 2019 While broadcast and voice technologies have significantly progressed during the last century, even the most up-to-date media formats still have yet to solve many of the double binds in which those with higher voices may find themselves. — Tina Tallon, The New Yorker, "A Century of “Shrill”: How Bias in Technology Has Hurt Women’s Voices," 3 Sep. 2019 Timely and important articulation of the double bind immigrants find themselves in, and why some — in this case the children — turn to extremism. — New York Times, "‘Surprised and Dismayed’: Readers Respond to Our Best 25 Plays List," 22 June 2018 Mr Trump’s trade policies have put Harley-Davidson in a double bind. — The Economist, "American firms will be hit hard by retaliatory tariffs," 7 June 2018 These views, deeply ingrained in American society even today, put mothers in a political double bind. — Jill Filipovic, The New Republic, "Female candidates are turning gender and motherhood into political assets in the midterms.," 29 May 2018 This is also, Tannen says, a byproduct of the double bind; because directness is often read as aggression, women learn to handle confrontation in indirect, self-consciously accommodating ways as well. — Ashley Fetters, The Cut, "The Strict, Subtle Rules of a Hey Ladies! Email," 1 May 2018 In many states, this precludes transfer of Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and other data—a double bind that would make any federal data-matching and verification task, an endeavor traditionally reserved to state coordination, futile. — Julia Powles, Slate Magazine, "Trump’s Voter Data Haul Tests the Privacy of Public Records," 12 July 2017

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“Double bind.” The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc., https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/double%20bind. Accessed 29 January 2020.