as in volcano
a potentially explosive place or situation
the region's political instability has turned it into a ticking time bomb
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Recent Examples of time bomb
Doug is a ticking time bomb …on several levels, probably.
—
Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 13 Feb. 2025
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
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
Some Trump loyalists see the debt ceiling as a ticking time bomb, set to detonate in the middle of Trump's first year.
—Hans Nichols, Axios, 20 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for time bomb
Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 13 Feb. 2025
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
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
Some Trump loyalists see the debt ceiling as a ticking time bomb, set to detonate in the middle of Trump's first year.
—Hans Nichols, Axios, 20 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for time bomb
Cite this Entry
“Time bomb.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/time%20bomb. Accessed 3 Apr. 2025.
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