How to Use third rail in a Sentence

third rail

noun

• Social Security is the third rail of American politics.
• Race is the third rail and the guard rails of our culture.
  — Washington Post, 2 Feb. 2022
• Rego’s rage runs through the decades, and the galleries of the show, like a third rail.
  — Anna Russel, The New Yorker, 29 July 2021
• Over the past decade, the rape joke has become the third rail of comedy.
  — Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 6 Nov. 2019
• No one was injured, but the T had to cut power to the third rail to let the crew backtrack.
  — Laura Crimaldi, BostonGlobe.com, 12 Aug. 2023
• In the third rail car, a seat had fallen onto Dorsey’s legs, her son said.
  — Meg Kinnard, The Seattle Times, 4 Feb. 2018
• Now might be the moment where that third rail concept is solved.
  — Michael Gale, Forbes, 10 Mar. 2021
• For the longest time, this was a complete third rail of an issue.
  — Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 11 June 2024
• It was believed to be caused by a small bag of garbage that was ignited by the third rail.
  — Bradford Betz, Fox News, 27 Apr. 2022
• Climate change and its implications have been a third rail for much of the world for a long time.
  — Michael Gale, Forbes, 10 Mar. 2021
• The city's rapid transit lines were shut down for the first time in 20 years as ice covered the electrified third rail.
  — Tom Skilling, chicagotribune.com, 27 Mar. 2018
• The third rail in this driving force is the environment.
  — Doug Ertz, Forbes, 1 Oct. 2021
• Just as the president lays his hand on the third rail of race, the athletes are responding.
  — Michael Powell, New York Times, 23 Sep. 2017
• The woman landed a few feet from the electrified third rail.
  — Justin George, Washington Post, 6 Aug. 2020
• Eventually, 343 feet of the third rail popped into the air.
  — Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News, 18 July 2024
• Gu landed a middling run the first time, then fell off the third rail on her second attempt.
  — New York Times, 14 Feb. 2022
• The man, Jacinto Suarez, did not come in contact with the electrified third rail and was not struck by a train.
  — Matthew Haag and Ashley Southall, New York Times, 3 Jan. 2018
• If there is no way to shield it, the MBTA will power down the 600-volt third rail during the work, officials said.
  — John R. Ellement, BostonGlobe.com, 11 Aug. 2023
• Tame stuff for most comics, but the third rail for a kid from an evangelical Christian home.
  — Tim Greiving, Los Angeles Times, 4 Mar. 2022
• There was also a third rail for power overhead inside the cage.
  — Kevin Leonard, baltimoresun.com, 6 Sep. 2019
• The jury may still be out on Adani, but the very name has become a third rail in India’s politics.
  — Alex Travelli, New York Times, 11 Feb. 2023
• There have been several near-misses when power to the third rail was turned back on before the tracks were cleared.
  — Washington Post, 22 Sep. 2020
• But that doesn't speak to the real third rail, intelligence.
  — Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 28 May 2013
• The sound of track rats scrambling, deftly avoiding the third rail, in the subway station during the commute home.
  — Dodai Stewart, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2023
• But there’s still a considerable amount of voltage flowing through the third rails of last year’s midterms.
  — Jason Linkins, The New Republic, 6 Oct. 2023
• Because the culture or, to be more precise, these image-makers, are not yet ready to touch that third rail.
  — The New Yorker, 15 Feb. 2022
• For a while, Macdonald became something of a third rail.
  — Nick Rose, Rolling Stone, 17 Sep. 2021
• Finally, there’s the third rail of this investment track.
  — Rob Isbitts, Forbes, 11 May 2021
• And yet in the discourse over admissions equity, sports is a kind of third rail no one seems eager to touch.
  — Town & Country, 18 Jan. 2023
• This marks only the third rail replacement in the 2.9-mile elevated loop's history.
  — Annalise Frank, Axios, 18 July 2024

Last Updated: 2 Nov 2024