as in hot button
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Recent Examples of third rail
There are billions of dollars in potential savings from MA changes, but the program is a political third rail given the influence of insurers and the perils of igniting attacks about cutting Medicare.
—
Peter Sullivan, Axios, 20 Mar. 2025
Reducing tangible benefits — beyond mere waste and fraud — risks touching a political third rail.
—Richard Menger Md Mpa, Forbes, 11 Mar. 2025
The threat of severe cutbacks amid those entitlements, long considered a third rail in U.S. politics, has angered some Trump allies.
—Joe Battenfeld, Boston Herald, 13 Mar. 2025
There was significant damage to BART’s third rail and track infrastructure, which were repaired after the vehicle was removed.
—Harry Harris, The Mercury News, 24 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for third rail
Peter Sullivan, Axios, 20 Mar. 2025
Reducing tangible benefits — beyond mere waste and fraud — risks touching a political third rail.
—Richard Menger Md Mpa, Forbes, 11 Mar. 2025
The threat of severe cutbacks amid those entitlements, long considered a third rail in U.S. politics, has angered some Trump allies.
—Joe Battenfeld, Boston Herald, 13 Mar. 2025
There was significant damage to BART’s third rail and track infrastructure, which were repaired after the vehicle was removed.
—Harry Harris, The Mercury News, 24 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for third rail
Recent Examples of Synonyms for third rail
Noun
-
In recent years, as retro gaming and nostalgia goggles have left everyone yearning for throwbacks, the term friction has become a hot button topic.—
Christopher Cruz,
Rolling Stone,
15 May 2025
-
His pastoral positions, though, are not well known, as he's rarely spoken out on some of the church's hot button issues.—
Jorge L. Ortiz,
USA Today,
6 May 2025
Noun
-
Mahnaz’s son is a Tasmanian devil spinning his ticking time bomb energy into entrepreneurial pursuits (running a gambling ring at school), bullying classmates and yelling at any adult that interferes with his forcefield.—
Sophie Monks Kaufman,
IndieWire,
22 May 2025
-
Family travel in the summer is a bit like flying with a piña colada in one hand and a ticking time bomb in the other.—
Jordi Lippe-McGraw,
Forbes.com,
19 May 2025
Noun
-
The powder keg situation in the town is stoked primarily by the upsurge in Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by a white Minneapolis cop.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
16 May 2025
-
This was the powder keg that ultimately sparked in the 1911 Champagne riots.—
The Editors,
JSTOR Daily,
28 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
Well, the Trump administration is at the center of three fast-moving international flash points, first Russia and Ukraine.—
/ CBS News,
CBS News,
11 May 2025
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And one of the biggest flash points in this is this trade standoff with China.—
NBC News,
NBC news,
4 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Third rail.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/third%20rail. Accessed 2 Jun. 2025.
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