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.

Related Words

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