Meaning & use
financial bind
Last updated
Meaning
nounsingular
A difficult situation in which you do not have enough money to pay what you owe or to do what you need.
Grammar: Usually singular with a: be in a financial bind.
Patterns
- be in a financial bind
- put someone in a financial bind
After losing his job, he found himself in a financial bind and could not pay the rent.
The sudden repair bill put the family in a financial bind.
She asked her parents for a small loan to get out of her financial bind.
Word forms
| plural | financial binds |
|---|
Common combinations
- in a financial bind
- The shop is in a financial bind after the slow season.
- leave someone in a financial bind
- The delay left the contractor in a financial bind.
- get out of a financial bind
- A part-time job helped her get out of a financial bind.
- ease a financial bind
- The grant eased the club's financial bind.
- a serious financial bind
- The company faced a serious financial bind last winter.
Synonyms and how they differ
- financial difficulty
- Financial difficulty is more formal and general, while financial bind pictures being trapped and pressed for money.
- cash crunch
- Cash crunch is a short-term shortage of ready money, usually in business, whereas financial bind can describe a person's whole situation.
- money trouble
- Money trouble is the most everyday phrase and sounds less formal than financial bind.
- financial pinch
- Financial pinch suggests mild pressure, while a financial bind is usually more serious.
Opposites
Word family
- bind noun
- a difficult situation with no easy way out
- financial adjective
- relating to money
- finances noun
- the money and financial affairs of a person or group
- financially adverb
- in terms of money
Commonly confused: financial bind or double bind?
financial bind vs double bind
A double bind is a situation where any choice leads to a bad result, while a financial bind is simply being short of money.
Practice
When the car broke down right before rent was due, Maria was in a ______ and had to borrow money.
Choose one answer.
A financial bind is being stuck without enough money. A windfall is unexpected extra money, which is the opposite of her problem.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “financial bind”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.