alle strette
Italian
Etymology
Literally, “at the tight spots”. Compare French à l'étroit.
Prepositional phrase
alle strette
- in a tight spot; with one's back to the wall
- Synonym: a mal partito
- 2020, Barack Obama, chapter 25, in Chicca Galli; Paolo Lucca; Giuseppe Maugeri, transl., Una terra promessa [A Promised Land], Garzanti Libri:
- Ero irritato che Sarkozy e Cameron mi avessero messo alle strette, in parte per risolvere i loro problemi politici interni...
- I was irritated that Sarkozy and Cameron had jammed me on the issue, in part to solve their domestic political problems...
- (literally, “I was irritated that Sarkozy and Cameron had put me in a tight spot, in part to resolve their internal political problems...”)