cornered.

Placed in a position with few safe ways to escape, evade, or respond.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• a cornered animal
• feel cornered
• cornered by questions

On the page

The cornered fox snapped at the rescuers.

He felt cornered by the demand to name his informant.

Cornered between the fence and the trucks, she looked for anything she could climb.

Usage notes

Primary category: fear. Can be spatial or figurative; suggests a threat forcing a response. Not identical to merely being enclosed. Normally non-gradable in this sense; degree words describe intensity, not a regular comparison.