This situation is a wheel within a wheel.
wheel within a wheel
idiomA complication of circumstances, motives, etc.
Origin
disputed originFrom the Bible, Book of Ezekiel, 1:16.
The legal case became a wheel within a wheel, involving hidden motives and secret agreements between the companies.
Behind the simple political dispute lay a wheel within a wheel of complex alliances and long-standing personal grievances that few observers truly understood.
- 01
big wheel
A person with a great deal of power or influence, especially a high-ranking person in an organization.
- 02
break the wheel
To end a pattern of oppression, inequality, injustice, or abuse.
- 03
fifth wheel
Anything superfluous or unnecessary.
- 04
grease the wheels
To create conditions likely to produce or hasten favorable future developments.
- 05
hamster wheel
To cycle fruitlessly.
- 06
hell on wheels
A situation that is tough, aggressive, lawless, and wild.
- 07
reinvent the wheel
To do work unnecessarily when it has already been done satisfactorily by others; to attempt to devise a solution to a problem when a solution already exists.
- 08
set of wheels
A car.
Last updated April 17, 2026