time bomb
1
3.4
- noun
- /taɪm bɑm/
:
bomba de relojería
- Authorities warned that a time bomb was wired to explode if not safely disarmed before 5 PM.
- a ticking time bomb
Examples
-
I told the PM that this time bomb will explode in the next year.
Blog text (19) -
Do you see the drawing of the time bomb with the fuse?
-
We suspect a time bomb aboard your aircraft.
-
Now, you can use it as a time bomb by simply twisting it, and you can set it from one to five minutes.
-
The police discovered a time bomb hidden in the abandoned building, set to detonate later that day.
-
During the security drill, the team simulated defusing a time bomb to practice preventing a potential disaster.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A hidden bomb set to explode later to kill or hurt people
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'time bomb' combines the literal nouns 'time' and 'bomb' to suggest something that will 'explode' or become dangerous after a period — a metaphorical extension that many learners can plausibly infer from the parts. However, the shift from a literal explosive device to an abstract future problem requires figurative inference, so the relation is partially but not fully transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Time bomb originally names a real bomb fitted with a time device so it will explode at a set hour. The clear image of a bomb with a ticking clock explains why it means 'a bomb that will explode at a set time'.