neither fish nor fowl
Belongs nowhere specific
Neither fish nor fowl describes something that doesn't fit neatly into any category—ambiguous, hard to classify, belonging to no clear group.
The phrase comes from an older expression about food suitable for different social classes: neither fish (for clergy), nor fowl (for nobility), nor good red herring (for commoners).
The proposal was neither fish nor fowl—too radical for conservatives, too timid for progressives.
- gray areaAmbiguous, ill-defined situation
- no man's landUnowned space between enemies
- in betweenIn the middle space
- indefinableResisting exact explanation
- ambiguousHaving multiple interpretations
on the fence · square peg in a round hole · square peg · hybrid · indeterminate · chimera · uncategorizable · liminality · identity crisis · odd duck · unclassifiable · misfit · outlier · jack of all trades · sui generis · anomaly · enigma · muddled
- fishing idiomshook line and sinker, fish out of water, the one that got away, fishing for compliments, fish or cut bait
- Russian sayingsbread and salt, avos, Potemkin village, iron curtain, dog ate it
neither fish nor fowlclear-cut
Plainly evident, unmistakable
unambiguous · definite · either-or · clearly defined · black and white
neither fish nor fowlpurebred
Of single breed ancestry
thoroughbred · pure · unadulterated · unmixed · archetypal
neither fish nor fowlquintessential
Representing the ideal type
paradigmatic · textbook · classic · prototypical · archetypal