powder keg
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
A situation that is ready to explode into violence or chaos
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
tình huống sẵn sàng bùng nổ thành bạo lực hoặc hỗn loạn
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a keg of gunpowder
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The political climate in the country is a powder keg
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “powder keg” mean?
A situation that is ready to explode into violence or chaos Literally: a keg of gunpowder
Is “powder keg” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.