out of the woods

Idioms  

1. Out of difficulties, danger or trouble, as in We're through the worst of the recession—we're out of the woods now, or That pneumonia was serious, but Charles is finally out of the woods. This expression, alluding to having been lost in a forest, dates from Roman times; it was first recorded in English in 1792. The British usage is out of the wood.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

out of the woods

“We are far from out of the woods at this point,” said Mark Malek, chief investment officer at Siebert Financial.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026

Felix Bohnsack, the technical head of the mission, praised everyone involved, from Backhaus's environment ministry to the German life guards' association DLRG, although he warned they were not yet "out of the woods".

From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2026

Still, Goldberg noted, “Intel is not out of the woods yet.”

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 10, 2026

So while the market seems relatively unscathed by the war right now, stocks are far from being out of the woods just yet.

From Barron's ● Mar. 11, 2026

I wished Georgie would step out of the woods and stop me from walking across the field to the terrace.

From "The Old Willis Place" by Mary Downing Hahn

Related Words

• improving
• well