up shit creek without a paddle
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
In a difficult situation without help or resources
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
trong tình huống khó khăn mà không có sự giúp đỡ
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: rowing on a creek with no paddle and feces
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
After losing my job and car, I felt like I was up shit creek without a paddle
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “up shit creek without a paddle” mean?
In a difficult situation without help or resources Literally: rowing on a creek with no paddle and feces
Is “up shit creek without a paddle” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.