Experiencing stress, urgency, or demanding circumstances that require immediate action or decision-making. Being in a situation where one feels forced to perform or respond quickly due to external constraints.
The phrase draws from the physical concept of pressure as force applied to a surface, extending this to psychological and social contexts. While the basic metaphor is ancient, the specific phrase gained cultural prominence through Queen and David Bowie's 1981 hit song "Under Pressure."
This phrase perfectly demonstrates how physical metaphors help us understand emotional states—we literally feel psychological stress as physical pressure. The expression has become so fundamental to describing stress that we rarely notice we're using a metaphor from physics to describe human experience.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.