time bomb
noun
1
: a bomb so made as to explode at a predetermined time
2
: something with a potentially dangerous or detrimental delayed reaction
Synonyms
- flash point
- powder keg
- tinderbox
- volcano
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
He's a time bomb getting ready to explode. If we don't do something about the pollution problem, we'll be sitting on a ticking time bomb.
Recent Examples on the Web But in addition to growth, the Wasatch Front faces another issue other booming Western communities do not: the ticking time bomb that is the Great Salt Lake. 
Leia Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 26 July 2022 Many industry watchers have deemed it a ticking time bomb with questionable collateral whose failure would almost certainly be an existential threat to the entire cryptocurrency market. Steven Ehrlich, Forbes, 28 June 2022 There's yet another major risk, one that dwarfs even huge concerns about how a spill might sully ocean waters: The Safer is, quite literally, a floating time bomb. Christopher Reddy, CNN, 22 Mar. 2022 All of this is playing out against the infectious disease equivalent of a ticking time bomb. Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times, 8 May 2022 In a continent believed to be drifting into recession, Italy is widely considered to be the ticking time bomb, with debt running at a hefty 150% of gross domestic product. Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 21 July 2022 Now, China faces a ticking time bomb: a generation of disenchanted and unemployed youth amid the biggest economic slowdown the country has seen in years, caused by the global slowdown and COVID lockdowns. Yvonne Lau, Fortune, 31 July 2022 In the first months of the pandemic, multiple experts, including a former CDC director, published warnings that broad use of antibiotics among the earliest Covid patients was lighting the fuse on a time bomb. Wired, 15 July 2022 That snowball effect represents a budgetary ticking time bomb for businesses of all sizes. David Campbell, Forbes, 5 July 2022 See More
Leia Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 26 July 2022 Many industry watchers have deemed it a ticking time bomb with questionable collateral whose failure would almost certainly be an existential threat to the entire cryptocurrency market. Steven Ehrlich, Forbes, 28 June 2022 There's yet another major risk, one that dwarfs even huge concerns about how a spill might sully ocean waters: The Safer is, quite literally, a floating time bomb. Christopher Reddy, CNN, 22 Mar. 2022 All of this is playing out against the infectious disease equivalent of a ticking time bomb. Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times, 8 May 2022 In a continent believed to be drifting into recession, Italy is widely considered to be the ticking time bomb, with debt running at a hefty 150% of gross domestic product. Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 21 July 2022 Now, China faces a ticking time bomb: a generation of disenchanted and unemployed youth amid the biggest economic slowdown the country has seen in years, caused by the global slowdown and COVID lockdowns. Yvonne Lau, Fortune, 31 July 2022 In the first months of the pandemic, multiple experts, including a former CDC director, published warnings that broad use of antibiotics among the earliest Covid patients was lighting the fuse on a time bomb. Wired, 15 July 2022 That snowball effect represents a budgetary ticking time bomb for businesses of all sizes. David Campbell, Forbes, 5 July 2022 See More Word History
First Known Use
1893, in the meaning defined at sense 1
time bomb
noun
as in volcano
a potentially explosive place or situation the region's political instability has turned it into a ticking time bomb Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- volcano
- powder keg
- flash point
- third rail
- hot button
- tinderbox