zugzwang

1. (chess) A situation in which a player is forced to make a disadvantageous move.countableuncountable

2. (figurative) A situation in which someone is forced to make a disadvantageous move.Examples: "An explanation for this phenomenon may be that speech acts that include instructions (e.g., a command or request) show a higher level of activity than speech acts of assertion; the ethnomethodological analysis of conversation speaks of conversational Zugzwänge:²⁴ a request, a question or a command demands a reaction of the addressee."; "Here, too, it is Russia that, ironically, is in Zugzwang. Because the central rationale of Moscow's occupation of Crimea was the defense of supposedly threatened Russians, Putin and his minions must continue insisting that Ukraine's Russians are under threat and that their right are being systematically violated."; "not only is there a lack of good alternatives concerning some particular policy decisions, but the whole Russian system is moving towards a zugzwang."countablefigurativelyuncountable