How to Use powder keg in a Sentence

powder keg

noun
Definition of powder kegnext
Synonyms for powder kegnext
  • Political instability has made the region a powder keg.
  • Forests across the West are now so overgrown they’ve been called powder kegs.
    — Washington Post, 16 Oct. 2017
  • Worse, the streets of Seattle are filled with protesters and cops, i.e. a powder keg ready to blow.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 5 Jan. 2022
  • Tichenor’s bad call lit a powder keg within Bogaerts that has been ready to blow for a while.
    — Peter Abraham, BostonGlobe.com, 19 Aug. 2022
  • There’s one by us that’s just a powder keg for class differences.
    — Lacey Rose, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 Aug. 2023
  • Not content to stop there, Mr. Netanyahu reached for two more powder kegs.
    — Dan Balilty, New York Times, 1 Mar. 2020
  • His idea of the perfect song was a powder keg giving off sparks, one that anybody could belt out loud.
    — Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 21 Apr. 2021
  • To be fair, the powder keg triumvirate of Kramer, Bangs and Marsh alone was a filmmaker’s dream.
    — John Benson, cleveland, 5 Aug. 2020
  • South of the Frisco Railroad tracks, though, white Tulsa was a racist powder keg waiting to explode.
    — Scott Cantrell, Dallas News, 3 June 2021
  • One drug needle shared by someone with HIV could easily be the match to this powder keg.
    — Laura Ungar, The Courier-Journal, 14 Dec. 2017
  • The region has historically been a powder keg and seems on the verge of more upheavals.
    — Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 8 Mar. 2018
  • Batman is dead, and a powder keg has ignited Gotham City without the Dark Knight to protect it.
    — Marc Berman, Forbes, 19 May 2022
  • The former Yugoslavia — the last European region to succumb to armed conflict, in the civil wars of the 1990s — could again prove a powder keg.
    — Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 Mar. 2022
  • In the series, Dent will attempt to solve Batman's murder as a powder keg ignites in the city without the Dark Knight there to protect it.
    — Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 13 Mar. 2023
  • Oregon is a powder keg of militancy right now, and its fuse is now burning bright and hot.
    — Kim Kelly, The New Republic, 27 Sep. 2019
  • Los Angeles was already a powder keg just waiting to explode that week, and the verdict led to the L.A. riots.
    — Paula Rogo, Essence, 14 Oct. 2019
  • That’s a new one for Rahm, the 28-year-old Spaniard who was frequently a powder keg of emotion earlier in his career when things went awry on the golf course.
    — Dan Wolken, USA TODAY, 6 Apr. 2023
  • The Democrats’ boycott of a second special legislative session has turned the Texas House into a powder keg.
    — Dallas News, 10 Aug. 2021
  • The place is a powder keg, the tense crossroads for Muslims, Christians and Jews in a time of intense sectarian conflict.
    — Barbara Vandenburgh, azcentral, 11 Apr. 2018
  • The county took that step even though the jail has recently been a powder keg, where eight people died in 2018, including some by suicide.
    — cleveland, 5 Mar. 2020
  • But a powerful act of forgiveness on the part of the family diffused the powder keg of violence that was ready to explode.
    — A.r. Bernard Sr., Baltimore Sun, 19 Feb. 2024
  • But there’s a sense of urgency in the second, more precise verse that not only sums up the track, but serves as a microcosm of the powder keg that is Kendrick’s sophomore album.
    — cleveland, 8 June 2020
  • Mamie’s testimony scene in the courtroom, for instance — a seven-page powder keg of grief, frustration and rage — is shot in one long take.
    — Sarah Bahr, New York Times, 24 Oct. 2022
  • Roller’s victory, aided by aim assist, set off a powder keg.
    — Ethan Davison, Washington Post, 16 Oct. 2020
  • Though the powder keg image is powerful, in reality very few wars start this way.
    — Dan Reiter, Washington Post, 11 Jan. 2018
  • Or the new Iranian prowess could prove to be a powder keg that is ignited by reckless militants in one or more camps.
    — Dp Opinion, The Denver Post, 28 Oct. 2019
  • Credit Jason Garrett with keeping the lid on a potential powder keg and getting the Cowboys off to a fresh start following the bye.
    — Clarence E. Hill Jr., star-telegram, 23 Oct. 2017
  • That would be just a teaser for the human traffic jam inside the tunnel, though, a powder keg of drunk, impatient people jammed into a too-small egress.
    — Dylan Owens, The Know, 9 June 2019
  • That all creates a powder keg under the current circumstances.
    — Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 15 Oct. 2023
  • The play begins with a gathering of skeptical seekers reluctant to engage in this powder keg of a room.
    — David John Chávez, The Mercury News, 7 Feb. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'powder keg.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: