wait for the other shoe to drop

Idioms

Await a seemingly inevitable event, as in Now that she has a good enough job to leave her husband, we're just waiting for the other shoe to drop. This expression alludes to a person awakened by a neighbor who loudly dropped one shoe on the floor and is waiting for the second shoe to be dropped. [Early 1900s]

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.

“Aging sucks. There’s nothing fun about it. Your close friends call and tell you they went to the doctor today. And then you just wait for the other shoe to drop. It’s just so awful.”

From Los Angeles Times

It is merely a sleight of hand and a twist of fate, and we're all resting on Bono's bed of nails while we wait for the other shoe to drop.

From Salon

So now we wait for the other shoe to drop.

From Seattle Times

He knew to wait for the other shoe to drop.

From Literature

And as they toast to their survival skills with communion wine by candlelight, we wait for the other shoe to drop.

From Forbes

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