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]

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Sorrel	SAWR-əl	English (Rare)
UrtĖ	-	Lithuanian
Zdenko	-	Slovak, Slovene, Croatian
Fidel	fee-DHEL	Spanish
Minna	['minə]
Khadiga	-	Arabic (Egyptian)