between a rock and a hard place

prepositional phrase2

1. •
   In a difficult and inescapable position.

   • A dish gone awry after adding the wrong ingredient. Chewing your way through this won't be fun, but it will fill you up when you're between a rock and a hard place. — 2017
2. •
   Having the choice between two unpleasant or distasteful options; in a predicament or quandary.

   • Husbands, it seems to me, are caught between the Rock of Feminism and the Hard Place of their own marriages […] — 1970