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

Watson went on to admit this "hot potato" was difficult to address and his hope was that everyone was equal.

Read more on BBC

The issue of grooming gangs in the UK has been a political hot potato for years, with particular sensitivities around ethnicity and race.

Read more on BBC

Foley said Thursday that she didn’t know whether to be mad or glad that it took her brother’s death becoming a “political hot potato” to get an independent review of the underlying facts.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

So how is it that such a nuanced issue has been reduced to a political hot potato?

Read more on BBC

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

Read more on Salon

Related Words

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