Meaning of short end of the stick | Babel Free

Definitions

A situation, opportunity, or outcome which is less favorable than situations, opportunities, or outcomes experienced by or available to others.

idiomatic

Examples

“Near-synonyms: shitty stick; shortest straw; raw deal”

“Soviet emphasis on high-yield weapons might give them a megaton surplus. . . . We might then be on the short end of the stick.”

“[T]he 44 Governors . . . spent three days in tense, often heated discussion of the enormous political and fiscal problems handed to the states under President Reagan's "new federalism." Said Wisconsin Governor Lee Dreyfus: "There is some apprehension on the part of the Governors that we are getting the short end of the stick."”

““[W]orking people are sick and tired of the bosses getting million-dollar bonuses and the workers getting the short end of the stick.””

“Does this mean Middlesbrough get the short end of the stick, with what will surely be the most ramshackle show of the tour?”

“I learned the hard way that people who ditch cable TV still get the short end of the stick.”

CEFR level