Tiếng Việt · Proverb Candidate

Trên đe dưới búa

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

To be under pressure from both sides

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Bị áp lực từ cả hai phía

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: on the anvil, under the hammer

Examples

Anh ấy bị áp lực từ cả sếp và đồng nghiệp, thật là trên đe dưới búa.He is under pressure from both his boss and colleagues, it's really on the anvil, under the hammer.

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Headword listed in the vdict.com proverb dictionary index (discovery source; headword only — no source content copied). Entered as candidate 2026-08-05; definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-08; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “Trên đe dưới búa” mean?

To be under pressure from both sides Literally: on the anvil, under the hammer

Is “Trên đe dưới búa” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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