powder keg
Americannoun
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a small, metal, barrellike container for gunpowder or blasting powder.
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a potentially dangerous situation, especially one involving violent repercussions.
noun
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a small barrel used to hold gunpowder
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informal a potential source or scene of violence, disaster, etc
Etymology
Origin of powder keg
First recorded in 1850–55
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.
The career soldier, who in 2021 collaborated with Daglo to oust civilians from a transitional government, wrote on Wednesday: "I long recognised that the RSF was a powder keg."
From Barron's ● Nov. 26, 2025
I long recognized that the RSF was a powder keg.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 25, 2025
For Crudup, Timothy isn’t a bitter powder keg but a man looking for a little closure, someone who has made peace with the past until the moment he doesn’t get the apology he’s expecting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 7, 2025
Dahlia Lithwick: I find the public-facing discourse around shootings to be impoverished, dangerous, and a powder keg on its own terms.
From Slate ● Sep. 12, 2025
He had forgotten where he was—had worked problems on a powder keg.
From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham
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.
