How do you say “Not have a leg to stand on” in Spanish?
The closest natural Spanish equivalent is no tener donde agarrarse, which literally means “to have nowhere to hold on”. English speakers use not have a leg to stand on to mean to have no sound argument or evidence to support your position. An established Spanish match for lacking support for an argument or defence. Register: informal. Usage frequency: common.
Closest natural Spanish
no tener donde agarrarse
/no teˈneɾ ˈdonde aɣaˈrase/
- Literal meaning
- “to have nowhere to hold on”
- Register
- informal
- How often it's used
- common
- Equivalence
Near-exact equivalent
94 out of 100
What a native Spanish speaker would actually say
Spanish pictures someone with nothing to hold onto. It works when the facts make a position difficult to defend.
You can say “no tengo donde agarrarme” about your own argument. Keep the disputed claim in the surrounding sentence so it does not sound like a physical situation.
How close is the meaning?
- Meaning5 out of 5
- Tone5 out of 5
- Context5 out of 5
- Literal similarity3 out of 5
These ratings are editorial approximations, not measurements.
In context
English
The video showed me crossing the line, so I did not have a leg to stand on.
Spanish
El vídeo mostraba que había cruzado la línea, así que no tenía donde agarrarme.
English
Without any records of the repairs, he did not have a leg to stand on.
Spanish
Sin ningún registro de las reparaciones, no tenía donde agarrarse.
Related expressions
Last updated 2026-10-01