land mine
29
4.1
- noun
- /lænd maɪn/
- Each man watched where the man in front stepped, for there were land mines.
- ban land mines
- land mines have killed
- million land mines
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Watch on YouTubeAnd then on top of that, he buries land mines on the entire border.
- And then on top of that, he buries land mines on the entire border.
- Did I mention in addition to the wall, I want land mines.
- He said, Oh, yeah, we, we had guys in in Vietnam that would use those to find underground tunnels, find land mines.
- Whatever is true is true, but God damn, like those are the land mines that people are trying to avoid.
- Bombs, guards, land mines and hostile militia within the country are preventing the international community from coming in.
- There are land mines being planted all over your life, and women is one of the biggest land mines that a man has to face.
Examples
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He stepped on a land mine.
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The man was a Vietnam veteran who'd lost both his legs to a land mine.
Fiction book (1993) -
Drove over a land mine.
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I was hit by a land mine in Vietnam.
Fiction book (1994) -
Her right foot was blown off when she stepped on a land mine during the height of the war.
Academic text (2007) -
In Burma, there are more land mines than anywhere in the world.
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Most of the world's nations have banned land mines and cluster bombs, even though the United States has refused to join them.
Academic text (2011) -
There are better than ten million land mines buried across Namibia and Angola, one for each inhabitant of Southwestern Africa.
Fiction book (1997) -
In Afghanistan today, a land mine exploded, killing a NATO soldier and wounding four more.
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One false step on the battlefield could lead to tragic injury from a hidden land mine.
Synonyms
20
7.0
A hidden bomb that explodes when someone touches or steps on it
11
3.9
An explosive device hidden under the ground that explodes when stepped on
A bomb hidden in the ground that explodes when stepped on or driven over
How Dangerous
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly built from the constituents: 'mine' (an explosive device buried to explode) located in the 'land' (ground), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer an explosive device hidden in the ground. The metaphorical sense of a hidden danger also follows transparently from the literal image, and this compounding pattern is cross-linguistically common.
Etymology
Land mine comes from real explosives hidden under the ground. The words land meaning ground and mine meaning a buried explosive create the picture of a trap that explodes when moved, so the phrase also means 'a hidden danger', something that looks safe but can suddenly cause harm.