booby trap
noun
1
: a trap for the unwary or unsuspecting : pitfall
2
: a concealed explosive device contrived to go off when some harmless-looking object is touched
Examples of booby trap in a Sentence
Someone had rigged a booby trap that blew up the car when the engine was started.
We set a booby trap by balancing a bucket of water on top of the door so that it would fall on him when he came in.
Recent Examples on the Web
The subject of the search, a man going by Robert Winters, is nowhere to be found, and his living arrangements appear oddly devoid of bombs or booby traps.
—
Hayden Mears, TVLine, 4 Sep. 2024
Some members shared detailed instructions for building bombs and booby traps.
—David D. Kirkpatrick, The New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2024
They are used to locate booby traps and to locate Russian forces, but do not actually have sniffing sensors.
—David Hambling, Forbes, 16 Aug. 2024
Meanwhile, the group’s top leadership are likely to have had their communications compromised by the heavy bombardment, according to experts, with units operating more autonomously in their severely degraded form, and employing guerrilla tactics, such as laying booby traps and staging ambushes.
—Sophie Tanno, CNN, 1 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for booby trap 
Hayden Mears, TVLine, 4 Sep. 2024
Some members shared detailed instructions for building bombs and booby traps.
—David D. Kirkpatrick, The New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2024
They are used to locate booby traps and to locate Russian forces, but do not actually have sniffing sensors.
—David Hambling, Forbes, 16 Aug. 2024
Meanwhile, the group’s top leadership are likely to have had their communications compromised by the heavy bombardment, according to experts, with units operating more autonomously in their severely degraded form, and employing guerrilla tactics, such as laying booby traps and staging ambushes.
—Sophie Tanno, CNN, 1 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for booby trap
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'booby trap.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Booby trap.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/booby%20trap. Accessed 20 Sep. 2024.
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