accident waiting to happen
accident waiting to happen noun: a thing or situation which is almost certain to eventually lead to an accident.
Noun
accident waiting to happen (plural accidents waiting to happen)
- A thing or situation which is almost certain to eventually lead to an accident.
- Someone needs to repair that worn-out old bridge. It's an accident waiting to happen!
- Maguire looked totally devoid of confidence, a lost soul and an accident waiting to happen, which it eventually did.2020 October 14, Phil McNulty, “England 0-1 Denmark: 'Harry Maguire looked devoid of confidence in Nations League loss'”, in BBC Sport
Forms of accident waiting to happen
| plural | accidents waiting to happen |
|---|
Origin of accident waiting to happen
Attested 1930s.
Words formed from accident waiting to happen
Questions about accident waiting to happen
- What does accident waiting to happen mean?
- Accident waiting to happen means a thing or situation which is almost certain to eventually lead to an accident.
- What part of speech is accident waiting to happen?
- Accident waiting to happen is a noun.
- What is the plural of accident waiting to happen?
- The plural of accident waiting to happen is accidents waiting to happen.
Words near accident waiting to happen in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: accident waiting to happen (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-accident waiting to happen.ogg.
Cite this entry: “accident waiting to happen.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/accident_waiting_to_happen. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.