in deep water
Facing major problems
In deep water means in serious trouble or difficulty, especially when overwhelmed by circumstances beyond one's control.
The metaphor evokes being out of one's depth—unable to touch bottom, struggling to stay afloat: The company found itself in deep water after the scandal broke.
Often intensified as in over one's head.
- drowningDeath by water inhalation
- going underFailing or submerging
- strugglingExperiencing serious difficulty
- troubleDifficulty or distress
- sinkingFalling through water
overwhelmed · submerged · danger · floundering · sink or swim · abyss · ocean · current · gasping · undertow · treading · difficulty · crisis · predicament · up the creek · murky · swamped · over your head
- Nautical Idiomsbatten down the hatches, all hands on deck, smooth sailing, three sheets to the wind, in the same boat
- sea idiomsall at sea, smooth sailing, sink or swim, miss the boat, rock the boat
- burnoutburned out, burnt out, burn out, burning out, burnout
- fishing idiomshook line and sinker, the one that got away, fishing for compliments, fish or cut bait, bigger fish to fry
- predicamentspredicament, dilemma, bind, pickle, pinch
- risk phrasestake a chance, take a gamble, risk it all, go for broke, roll the dice
in deep watersafe and sound
Unharmed and protected
out of danger · in the clear · on solid ground · out of harm's way · secure
in deep watersmooth sailing
Untroubled progress forward
plain sailing · on solid ground · in one's element · in clover · easy street
in deep wateron solid ground
well-grounded · on an even keel · anchored · rooted · steady
deep, water, deepen, deeply, deepness, deeper, deepest, depth, depths