hot potato

American  

noun

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

2. British Informal. a baked potato.

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hot potato British  

noun

1. slang an awkward or delicate matter

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hot potato Idioms  

1. 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.

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Etymology

Origin of hot potato

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hot potato

They all agreed that they would get rid of this hot potato, adjourn quickly and go home for the holidays.

From Salon ● Dec. 20, 2024

Carpenter then tried to give it to Keoghan, but he refused, motioning at the statue as if it were a hot potato he was superstitious about jinxing.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 11, 2024

Until then, they seem destined to stay a transit hot potato, passed in bursts from one private owner to another.

From Slate ● Aug. 9, 2023

Greece’s foreign ministry made a ham-handed bid to get rid of the hot potato by sneaking Ocalan out of the country and trying to hide him in the Greek Embassy in Kenya.

From Seattle Times ● May 31, 2023

I get mad and throw a hot potato fit.

From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett

Related Words

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