time bomb
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time bomb
Where it comes from
From time + bomb.
noun time bombs · timebomb · time-bomb
- A bomb that has a mechanism such that detonation can be preset to a particular time. At 9.40 a.m. on Bank Holiday Monday, August 5, a ganger found what was thought to be a time bomb at a level crossing at Tempsford, near Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, […] Inside one box was a brick; the other contained the works of an old alarm clock.
- A malicious program designed to perform a destructive action at a certain date or time. Donald Gene Burleson was prosecuted on felony charges for planting a time bomb that, shortly after he was fired, deleted more than 168,000 brokerage records of USPA & IRA in Fort Worth, Texas.
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A situation that threatens to have disastrous consequences at some future time.
Even so, they managed to morph the recent European parliamentary elections into a time bomb and plant it under their country’s own future.
Similar: ticking bomb, ticking time bomb
Translations
Every language
noun bomb with a timeout mechanism
| Español | bomba de relojería |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 시한폭탄 sihanpoktan |
| 日本語 | 時限爆弾 jigenbákudan |
| 中文 | 定時炸彈 /定时炸弹 dìngshízhàdàn, 計時炸彈 /计时炸弹 jìshízhàdàn |
| Português | bomba-relógio |
| Français | bombe à retardement |
| Deutsch | Zeitbombe |
| Italiano | bomba a orologeria, bomba a tempo |
| Ελληνικά | ωρολογιακή βόμβα orologiakí vómva |
| Русский | бо́мба заме́дленного де́йствия bómba zamédlennovo déjstvija, бо́мба с часовы́м механи́змом bómba s časovým mexanízmom |
| العربية | قُنْبُلَةٌ مَوْقُوتَةٌ qunbulatun mawqūtatun |
noun situation that threatens to have disastrous consequences at some future time
| Español | bomba de relojería |
|---|---|
| Français | bombe à retardement |
| Italiano | bomba a orologeria, bomba a tempo |
Talk about this word "time bomb." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/time%20bomb. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. time bomb. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/time%20bomb "time bomb." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/time%20bomb.Cite this
@misc{time_bomb_2026,
title = {time bomb},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/time%20bomb},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
