The phrase
"ticking timebomb" refers to a situation or problem that could become very dangerous or harmful if not addressed or resolved soon. It implies that there is a limited amount of time before the situation worsens or leads to a disaster.
Full definition
Diabetes is
a ticking timebomb for people and the health service.
The breakthrough advance could help defuse a «
ticking timebomb» for serious lung disease, with over 1 billion smokers worldwide at risk.
This socially aware scary movie takes you by surprise, setting the scene for a slasher flick that's
a ticking timebomb.
Dern's chapter is engrossing, but when it demurs from paying off
its ticking timebombs it feels less like an elevation of genre conventions than a haughty dismissal of them.
You're more aware that
a ticking timebomb could go off at any moment.
We've seen him play the madman,
the ticking timebomb, the warm - hearted but cold - blooded gangster.
You wrote back a very long and heartfelt email saying that we needed to put him down, that he was
a ticking timebomb and that, no doubt, it would be worse in the long run.
Illnesses don't miraculously appear like
a ticking timebomb, they are triggered.