Synonyms of sticky wicket

sticky wicket

noun

as in dilemma

a difficult, puzzling, or embarrassing situation from which there is no easy escape

with both sets of in-laws insisting that we spend Thanksgiving with them, we were on a sticky wicket indeed

Synonyms & Similar Words

• dilemma
• predicament
• pickle
• hole
• bind
• rabbit hole
• swamp
• corner
• kettle of fish
• jam
• difficulty
• box
• impasse
• spot
• fix
• hot water
• quagmire
• rattrap
• jackpot
• mire
• crisis
• soup
• plight
• node
• catch-22
• trouble
• emergency
• quandary
• pinch
• halt
• deadlock
• standstill
• stalemate
• clutch
• scrape
• strait
• exigency
• crossroad
• juncture
• logjam

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of sticky wicket

The sticky wicket, which has been the stickiest for AI-tech megacaps, is investor angst around capital expenditures and a sluggish pace of return that could send the stock on a nosedive. — Amanda Gerut, Fortune, 5 Aug. 2026

Of philosophy’s many sticky wickets, consciousness is perhaps the most perplexing. — Kevin Dickinson, Big Think, 20 Aug. 2025

To that, timestamps may prove a sticky wicket for a part of Baldoni’s argument against the Times. — Dominic Patten, Deadline, 17 Mar. 2025

That third spot is a sticky wicket for a team projected to be just outside the top five in the game. — Eno Sarris, The Athletic, 7 Jan. 2025

While reforms have been proposed in the past under other leaders, they have gotten caught up in a sticky wicket of state bureaucracy. — Christopher Keating, Hartford Courant, 20 June 2024

The situation is a sticky wicket, to use an old-fashioned term from the sport of cricket, for the countless interest groups that depend on money from the budget. — Dan Walters, The Mercury News, 4 May 2024

In contrast, altering and editing an image can be a much more nuanced process that makes determining what part is from humans a sticky wicket. — Drew McLellan, Forbes, 29 Nov. 2023