Synonyms

hot water

American

noun

Informal.

trouble; a predicament.

His skipping classes will get him into real hot water when exam time comes.

hot water Idioms

Trouble or difficulty, as in She's deep in political hot water, or We got in hot water over the car deal, or He's finally paid his tuition and is out of hot water with the school. This metaphoric term alludes to water hot enough to burn one. [First half of 1500s] Also see in trouble with.

Etymology

Origin of hot water

First recorded in 1530–40

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.

See Examples For:

hot water

The family has naturally been using less hot water during the heatwaves.

From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026

Or skip the coffee and steep cinnamon stalks in hot water with lime.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026

They also created extensive hydrothermal systems, hot water environments that may have provided the right conditions for life to emerge.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 2, 2026

France's main energy provider also shut down two nuclear reactors on Thursday as an environmental protection measure to avoid discharging too much hot water into already warming rivers.

From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026

We had an electric hot water heater, a shower, tub, all that; but of course they all stopped working.

From "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023