How to Use hot potato in a Sentence

hot potato

noun
  • He tried to avoid taking a strong stand on political hot potatoes like abortion.
  • But rather than shoot the puck, the Wings played hot potato with it.
    Helene St. James, Detroit Free Press, 13 Nov. 2021
  • That’s how the hot potato ended up in the Supreme Court’s lap.
    Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 10 Nov. 2020
  • The trio have spent the past two-plus years passing the world record around like a hot potato.
    Dave Sheinin, Washington Post, 27 July 2024
  • This shock ball takes a twist on the classic game of hot potato.
    Kevin Cortez, Popular Mechanics, 11 Nov. 2022
  • Transfer hot potatoes and beans to a large bowl and toss in enough vinaigrette to coat.
    Kitty Greenwald, WSJ, 2 Aug. 2018
  • The group was left close enough to each other to play market-cap hot potato.
    Amrith Ramkumar, WSJ, 7 Jan. 2019
  • The Pacers played hot potato with the ball after having as much as a 17-point lead.
    J. Michael, The Indianapolis Star, 27 Mar. 2021
  • The hot potato now is passed to Del Mar, Baffert’s racing home away from home.
    Bryce Miller Columnist, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 July 2021
  • Schaefer and Staley spent most of the past decade playing hot potato with the SEC coach of the year trophy.
    Nick Moyle, San Antonio Express-News, 29 Mar. 2021
  • James and Dwyane Wade tossing a hot potato was a delight.
    Michael Shapiro, SI.com, 3 Sep. 2019
  • Rod Rosenstein pointed Mueller to get rid of a hot potato.
    Fox News, 14 Apr. 2018
  • But the final portion of the evening, when Reggie’s last Q of the night gets passed around like a hot potato, is just so dumb and fun.
    Vulture, 20 May 2022
  • The painting was being passed around the criminal world like a hot potato, Brand told The Guardian.
    Robert Higgs, cleveland, 12 Sep. 2023
  • Lawmakers and the White House have long played a game of hot potato with the notion of what can become law.
    Ashley Killough and Tal Kopan, CNN, 10 May 2018
  • There is also a fiendishness that can lurk within the hot potato ploy too.
    Lance Eliot, Forbes, 1 Aug. 2022
  • The Golden Globes telecast was something of a hot potato prior to this new deal.
    Hilary Lewis, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Mar. 2024
  • The pair played hot potato until Jones gave it to Brian Hoyer.
    BostonGlobe.com, 12 Sep. 2021
  • No telling if this game of celebrity hot potato for our voting rights will make a difference in the end.
    Abigail Rosenthal, Chron, 7 May 2021
  • Dropped Fremont like a hot potato to protect their core base in Detroit.
    Levi Sumagaysay, chicagotribune.com, 23 May 2018
  • Remove the potatoes from the oven and, holding a hot potato with a dry towel, make a vertical slit across the top.
    Cathy Barrow, The Denver Post, 20 Sep. 2019
  • On the snack front, the site provides everything from spicy butter hot potato chips to jerky and jellies.
    Jacorey Moon, Good Housekeeping, 6 May 2023
  • First baseman Rhys Hoskins — who often fields the position with the ease of kids playing a game of hot potato — could hit the trade market.
    Dan Gelston, ajc, 7 Nov. 2022
  • The historical approach has been to pass the risk off onto someone else like a game of hot potato.
    Ziad Ismail, Forbes, 2 June 2021
  • Now, for the rest of the play, the family will play a particularly grisly game of hot potato.
    Sara Holdren, Vulture, 16 June 2024
  • Now, for the rest of the play, the family will play a particularly grisly game of hot potato.
    Sara Holdren, Vulture, 18 Dec. 2023
  • Hamas seems to be trying to throw the hot potato into the lap of the Palestinian Authority.
    Saud Abu Ramadan, Bloomberg.com, 3 Oct. 2017
  • Porsche and Tesla have been playing hot potato with the Nürburgring’s electric sedan lap record for a few years now.
    Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 2 Jan. 2024
  • Even before cases of covid-19 started to surge again, the slow supply of vaccines in Europe was a hot potato.
    The Economist, 24 Mar. 2021
  • The issue is a hot potato that gets passed between branches of the US government – Congress should fix this!
    John D. Sutter, CNN, 30 June 2022

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

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