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
Adina (1)	-	Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek, Hebrew
Venka	VEN-kah	Esperanto
Kiefer	KEE-fər	English (Modern)
YrjÖ	UYR-yuu	Finnish
MoÏSe	-	French
Johnson	['dʒɔnsn]