Mexican standoff

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

It’s an unprecedented state of diffuse inconclusiveness, a Mexican standoff of guns that cannot be loaded, and a battle between empty boats floating past each other in an endless, aimlessly circulating gray sea.

From Slate • Dec. 9, 2022

The movie’s admirers have been in a kind of Mexican standoff with this objection ever since it has been aired on social media, although I accept the good faith in which McDonagh created this character.

From The Guardian • Mar. 5, 2018

It was a highly enjoyable experience, one that felt unashamedly cult-ish and satisfying—collective cheers and audible gasps were shared during the incredible Mexican standoff that ended the episode.

From Slate • Nov. 20, 2013

So when I look back over the long stretch of the intervening decades, I now see those two movies as representing dueling meta-narratives in a postfeminist Mexican standoff.

From New York Times • Apr. 24, 2011

What they are after instead is what George Georghiou of the University of California at Riverside calls a Mexican standoff, in which insect depredations could be kept small enough to be acceptable economically.

From Time Magazine Archive