hot seat
Americannoun
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a highly uncomfortable or embarrassing situation.
I'm in the hot seat because of the contract I lost.
noun
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informal a precarious, difficult, or dangerous position
-
a slang term for electric chair
Etymology
Origin of hot seat
First recorded in 1915–20
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Scott has also found himself on the hot seat over his $163,000 city SUV.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026
Cue the violins, because after Jerome Powell’s swan song Fed rate meeting, it’s his final two weeks in the hot seat.
From Barron's ● May 4, 2026
The last Bruins coach to survive that scenario was Ben Howland, who immediately entered the next season on the hot seat, his fate seemingly a fait accompli.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 8, 2026
Like his predecessor in the UUP hot seat Doug Beattie, he was a progressive leader.
From BBC ● Jan. 2, 2026
I felt like I was in the hot seat, no pun intended.
From "The First Rule of Punk" by Celia C. Pérez
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
