time bomb

See synonyms for time bomb on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a bomb constructed so as to explode at a certain time.

  2. a situation, condition, etc., resembling such a bomb in having disastrous consequences in the future.

Origin of time bomb

1
First recorded in 1890–95

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use time bomb in a sentence

  • I think that embedded in these agreements are three ticking time bombs that could blow them to smithereens.

    Russia's Ticking Time Bomb | The Daily Beast | July 8, 2009 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • There might be, hidden somewhere in the cargo-holds, time-bombs set to explode at a given moment.

    Ruth Fielding Homeward Bound | Alice B. Emerson
  • Then your notion would be to plant time bombs at the factories so they will go off in the night?

    Ted and the Telephone | Sara Ware Bassett
  • All the proud thousands of the defense fleet were gone, blown to fragments by the time bombs from above.

    When the Sleepers Woke | Arthur Leo Zagat

British Dictionary definitions for time bomb

time bomb

noun
  1. a bomb containing a timing mechanism that determines the time at which it will detonate

  2. a situation which, if allowed to continue, will develop into a serious problem

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with time bomb

time bomb

A situation that threatens to have disastrous consequences at some future time, as in That departmental dispute is a time bomb just waiting to go off. This term alludes to an explosive device that is set to go off at a specific time. [First half of 1900s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.