screwed

1. 1
   adjectiveslangmildly vulgar

   Stuck in a bad situation that seems too difficult to overcome, often with trouble or danger close at hand.

   Like a chess player in checkmate with no move left to make.

   With the deadline an hour away and the files lost, the whole team was screwed.

   Once the investors pulled out, the startup was completely screwed.

   Similardoomed, finished

   Oppositesafe, fine

   Note

   Its edge is mildly vulgar, and the history explains the bite. In the mid-1600s, to screw meant to apply pressure or coercion, probably with thumbscrews in mind, and being screwed soon widened into being caught in a bind with no escape. It sits after the verb (now we're screwed) and takes degree words: more screwed, completely screwed. Keep it to casual speech. Formal writing wants trapped or doomed.

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of screw.

   The carpenter screwed each plank down before sanding the deck.

   The metal panels were screwed together with steel bolts.

   Note

   One spelling serves both the past tense and the participle, so "he screwed the boards together" and "the boards were screwed together" share it. The passive is where the meaning shifts. "I got screwed at the swap meet" means cheated, not fastened, and the vulgar sexual sense of screw is never far off. That cheating sense lies close to the "in a bind" adjective, and the two share the same roots in coercion.

3. 3
   adjectivedatedBritish

   Drunk; under the influence of too much alcohol.

   Like a sailor staggering across a rolling deck after one too many.

   Half the wedding guests were thoroughly screwed before the speeches even began.

   He came home from the pub screwed and singing at the top of his voice.

   Similardrunk, tight, plastered, sloshed

   Oppositesober

   Note

   Older British slang put drunkenness this way: in 1889 a speaker could brush off a husband's drinking as "only a little screwed," and James Joyce's "The Dead" worries that Freddy Malins might "turn up screwed." It follows verbs like be, come home and turn up, and it readily takes softeners such as a little. Because it is dated, listeners may now hear the "in deep trouble" meaning instead, so keep it for period dialogue.

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