build on sand

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Use an unstable foundation, as in If you buy nothing but high-risk stocks, your portfolio will be built on sand. This metaphor appears in the New Testament, where Jesus likens those who do not heed his sayings to a foolish man who builds his house on sand, which then is washed away by rain, flood, and wind (Matthew 7:24–27). [c. 1600]

QUIZ

ARE YOU A TRUE BLUE CHAMPION OF THESE "BLUE" SYNONYMS?

We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms.

Question 1 of 8

Which of the following words describes “sky blue”?

navy

beryl

azure

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Words nearby build on sand

building permit, building society, building trades, build into, build on, build on sand, buildup, built, built cane, built-in, built-in obsolescence

How to use build on sand in a sentence

Just the hard-on before you shoot unarmed members of the public.
'Babylon' Review: The Dumb Lives of Trigger-Happy Cops|Melissa Leon|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Three on-the-record stories from a family: a mother and her daughters who came from Phoenix.
I Tried to Warn You About Sleazy Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in 2003|Vicky Ward|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
You just travel light with carry-on luggage, go to cities that you love, and get to hang out with all your friends.
Coffee Talk with Fred Armisen: On ‘Portlandia,’ Meeting Obama, and Taylor Swift’s Greatness|Marlow Stern|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
It was a brick wall that we turned into the on-ramp of a highway.
Coffee Talk with Fred Armisen: On ‘Portlandia,’ Meeting Obama, and Taylor Swift’s Greatness|Marlow Stern|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST

Could the (thus far) timid trembling give way to a full-on, grand mal seizure?
26 Earthquakes Later, Fracking’s Smoking Gun Is in Texas|James Joiner|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Broken crocks should be strewn upon the tray, and on to this is heaped peaty soil mixed with sand.
How to Know the Ferns|S. Leonard Bastin
You speak with about as little reflection as we might expect from one of those children down there playing in the sand.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories|Kate Chopin
They lived at first in a tent; no time to build a house, till the wheat and vegetables were planted.
Ramona|Helen Hunt Jackson
Edna looked at her feet, and noticed the sand and slime between her brown toes.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories|Kate Chopin
I drew back from the rim of Writing-On-the-Stone, that set of whispered phrases echoing in my ears.
Raw Gold|Bertrand W. Sinclair