The Pits, to be

Meaning of Idiom ‘The Pits’

To be the pits means to be a very unpleasant, undesirable, or unfortunate thing (situation, circumstance, etc).

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Examples Of Use

“Going to school is the pits. I think I’m going to skip class today.”

“I forgot to pay my water bill so they cut off my water!” “That’s the pits,” said Lewis.

“Half of us are going to be laid off. This is really the pits.”

Origin

Since the mid-1900s pits has been a shortened and informal term of armpits, which are associated with body odor. From there, pits cam to be used to refer to anything unpleasant or bad. ¹

More Idioms Starting with P

• Preaching to the Choir
• Play Cat and Mouse
• Page-Turner
• Play Hardball
• Pain in the Neck, a

More Pit Idioms

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References

1. Ayto, John. Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms. Oxford: Oxford U, 2010.