when the chips are down
informalwhen you are in a very difficult or dangerous situation, especially one that makes you understand the true value of people or things:
One day when the chips are down, you will know who your true friends are.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Difficult situations and unpleasant experiences
- a (heavy) cross to bear idiom
- a cloud on the horizon idiom
- a fate worse than death idiom
- a hard/tough row to hoe idiom
- a narrow squeak idiom
- barrel
- bind
- crunch
- curse
- eventuality
- fate
- feeding frenzy
- going
- have a bumpy ride idiom
- rum
- schtuck
- shtook
- stalemate
- standoff
- vortex
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