a pretty pass

A particularly difficult, troublesome, or bad state or situation. (Used especially in the phrase "come to/reach a pretty pass.") Now don't spread this around, but I hear things have come to a pretty pass between Mark and his wife. Negotiations between management and the striking employees reached a pretty pass when the labor union rejected the company's latest deal.

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Ishmael	ISH-may-əl (English), ISH-mee-əl (English)	Biblical
Aldwin	['ɔ:ldwin]
Zinnia	ZIN-ee-ə	English (Rare)
Lemuel	['lemjuəl]
Ackary	['ækəri]
Corradino	kor-rah-DEE-no	Italian