as in hot button
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Recent Examples of third rail
The bottom line: Republican lawmakers have generally considered ESAs to be a third rail and are extremely resistant to Democratic proposals to eliminate or curtail the 2022 expansion of the program.
—
Jeremy Duda, Axios, 21 Jan. 2025
There is another third rail in this equation: Xinjiang.
—Wesley Alexander Hill, Forbes, 7 Jan. 2025
Then there is the third rail of Trump World: Mr. Putin.
—Michael Crowley, New York Times, 15 Jan. 2025
If our job as marketers is to invite as many people as possible, sometimes that feels like a third rail not to touch.
—Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 25 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for third rail 
Jeremy Duda, Axios, 21 Jan. 2025
There is another third rail in this equation: Xinjiang.
—Wesley Alexander Hill, Forbes, 7 Jan. 2025
Then there is the third rail of Trump World: Mr. Putin.
—Michael Crowley, New York Times, 15 Jan. 2025
If our job as marketers is to invite as many people as possible, sometimes that feels like a third rail not to touch.
—Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 25 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for third rail
Recent Examples of Synonyms for third rail
Noun
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Created by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield in 1978, the ice cream brand has long been known for speaking out on hot button issues, key among them climate change.—
Jessica Schladebeck,
New York Daily News,
14 Feb. 2025
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With Republicans currently controlling both houses of Congress by thin margins, significant legislative could certainly follow, but could still prove difficult on some hot button issues.—
Gordon G. Chang,
Newsweek,
24 Jan. 2025
Noun
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That would mean a country suffering from the particular malaise that’s afflicted Japan, Norway, the U.K. and elsewhere: an aging population with a dwindling worker base, essentially an economic ticking time bomb.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
17 Jan. 2025
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In December 1990, officials in the federal agency tasked with regulating offshore oil and gas drilling received a memo with a dire warning: America faced a ticking time bomb of environmental liability from unplugged oil and gas wells, wrote the agency’s chief of staff.—
Mark Olalde,
ProPublica,
30 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Things may have been all fun and games (literally) for a few months, but Yellowjackets' camp is a powder keg of teen hormones, power hunger and religious drama ready to explode.—
Kelly Lawler,
USA TODAY,
14 Feb. 2025
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The first-look teaser, unfolding at a gas station, promises a powder keg of tension waiting to explode beneath the serene beauty of village life.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
13 Feb. 2025
Noun
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The move comes after Republican officials ramped up efforts to turn the 2021 order into a partisan flash point ahead of the 2024 election.—
Hansi Lo Wang,
NPR,
20 Jan. 2025
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The plight of the Palestinians will serve as a flash point, a symbol of inequities in the prevailing international order and, in the eyes of many across the developing world, the unfinished work of decolonization.—
Matias Spektor,
Foreign Affairs,
7 Jan. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Third rail.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/third%20rail. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.
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