waist deep
Halfway up torso
Waist deep describes a depth reaching to the waist, typically of water or snow: We waded waist deep into the lake.
The phrase works as both adjective and adverb.
Figuratively, it suggests being substantially involved or immersed in something: waist deep in paperwork, waist deep in debt.
- wadingTraversing shallow water on foot
- immersedPlunged entirely into
- standing waterAccumulated unmoving liquid
- rising waterIncreasing water level
- riverLarge flowing watercourse
flood · flash flood · mud · swamp · current · quicksand · trudging · sloshing · waterlogged · marsh · creek · waders · soaked · murky · muddy water · tide · submersion · bog
- shallow waterpuddle, tide pool, shoal, sandbar, shallows
- hobbyist levelsbeginner, novice, intermediate, advanced, expert
- predicamentspredicament, dilemma, bind, pickle, pinch
- snow conditionspowder, packed powder, fresh snow, groomed, hardpack
- Backcountry Skiingskins, skinning, ski mountaineering, transceiver, avalanche risk
waist deepover one's head
Beyond one's understanding
in over your head · bone dry · high and dry · drowning in · submerged
waist deepuninvolved
Not taking part
on the sidelines · up to one's neck · in over one's head · detached · disengaged
waist, deep, waists, waisted, wasted, deepen, deeper, deepest, deeply