hot potato
nounDefinition of hot potato
: a controversial question or issue that involves unpleasant or dangerous consequences for anyone dealing with it
Examples of hot potato in a Sentence
He tried to avoid taking a strong stand on political hot potatoes like abortion.
Recent Examples on the Web
But Apple effectively tossed executive leadership of the product around like a hot potato. — Nick Statt, The Verge, "Former Siri chief is leaving Apple to join Microsoft’s AI division," 19 Aug. 2019 The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has been a legal and political hot potato since its 2010 enactment by President Barack Obama and Democrats who controlled Congress. — Cliff Pinckard, cleveland.com, "Lake Erie’s harmful algal bloom could be worst since 2015: The Wake Up for Friday, July 12, 2019," 12 July 2019 His immediate predecessors, Orton and Grossman, played hot potato with the position while the Bears boasted a championship-caliber defense. — Will Larkin, chicagotribune.com, "Ranking the 100 best Bears players ever: No. 78, Jay Cutler," 20 June 2019 Instead, rubbish has become a political hot potato. — The Economist, "Rubbish is becoming a political problem in Russia," 29 June 2019 Photo: Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images That left the hot potato of a response in the policy makers’ lap. — Warren Bass, WSJ, "The Bin Laden Attack That Two Presidents Failed to Answer," 10 Jan. 2019 The group was left close enough to each other to play market-cap hot potato. — Amrith Ramkumar, WSJ, "Amazon Takes Market Cap Crown, Cementing Tech Power," 7 Jan. 2019 Their saga has become a diplomatic hot potato in Europe, where anti-immigrant sentiment and strained resources have butted up against migrants arriving by the thousands. — Doug Criss, CNN, "5 things for June 14: Russia probe, interest rates, North Korea, migrants, World Cup," 14 June 2018 And as Vox’s Jane Coaston notes, the NFL protests have also become a political hot potato, with the protests serving as one of President Trump’s most favored culture war topics. — P.r. Lockhart, Vox, "Trump has repeatedly attacked the NFL. That hasn’t stopped players from protesting.," 20 Aug. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hot potato.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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