hot potato

noun

1. Informal. a situation or issue that is difficult, unpleasant, or risky to deal with.
2. British Informal. a baked potato.

hot potato

noun

1. slang.
   an awkward or delicate matter

Word History and Origins

Origin of hot potato¹

First recorded in 1840–50

Idioms and Phrases

A problem so controversial and sensitive that it is risky to deal with. For example, Gun control is a political hot potato . This term, dating from the mid-1800s, alludes to the only slightly older expression drop like a hot potato , meaning “to abandon something or someone quickly” (lest one be burned). The idiom alludes to the fact that cooked potatoes retain considerable heat because they contain a lot of water.

Example Sentences

Senior officials in Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's government see the consulate issue as a political hot potato that could destabilize their unwieldy coalition.

From Axios

However, the site has been a political hot potato, with support for it swaying in response to local opposition and state and federal leadership.

From MIT Technology Review

It's now a political hot potato in the world of Web server hosts.

From The Daily Beast

She came to school toting “shame-based food” like borscht, hot potato salad, and cotletten-and-ketchup sandwiches.

From The Daily Beast

I think this was a preemptive move by the Pentagon to unload a political hot potato.

From The Daily Beast

In that process, responsibility for the selection of Palin is the real hot potato.

From The Daily Beast

Add an equal amount of freshly cooked hot potato that has been put through a potato ricer or mashed fine.

From Project Gutenberg

He did not seem to know what to do with it, and shifted it from one hand to another as though it were a hot potato.

From Project Gutenberg

He took up the book; but seeing the owner suddenly appear, he dropped it like a hot potato.

From Project Gutenberg

She'd drop old Tippengray like a hot potato and stick to me like one of those adhesive plasters that have holes in them.

From Project Gutenberg

He more than once went up to the fire for a hot potato, but each time the punch was offered him he wisely declined taking it.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• crisis
• emergency
• exposure
• insecurity
• instability
• jeopardy
• menace
• peril
• pitfall
• possibility
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• risk
• threat
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• vulnerability