as in hot button
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Recent Examples of third rail
Protecting Social Security and Medicare: Trump has pledged not to touch the third rail of politics, even floating a plan to cut Social Security taxes for seniors.
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Axios, 9 Oct. 2024
Trump stood on stage for nearly two hours, touching the third rail of Wisconsin politics by overlapping with a Green Bay Packers game, drawing derision from Democrats.
—Adriana Gomez Licon, Twin Cities, 6 Oct. 2024
But Ginsberg and others did not do so, and that required significant amounts of courage, the same kind that Harlan brought to the scene in his own writing, which often touched a variety of cultural third rails.
—Jason Sheehan, Rolling Stone, 1 Oct. 2024
The new plant, Siemens's third rail production facility in the U.S., comes as the Biden Administration continues its push to get high-speed trains up and running in one of the few advanced nations that doesn’t have them.
—Alan Ohnsman, Forbes, 9 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for third rail 
Axios, 9 Oct. 2024
Trump stood on stage for nearly two hours, touching the third rail of Wisconsin politics by overlapping with a Green Bay Packers game, drawing derision from Democrats.
—Adriana Gomez Licon, Twin Cities, 6 Oct. 2024
But Ginsberg and others did not do so, and that required significant amounts of courage, the same kind that Harlan brought to the scene in his own writing, which often touched a variety of cultural third rails.
—Jason Sheehan, Rolling Stone, 1 Oct. 2024
The new plant, Siemens's third rail production facility in the U.S., comes as the Biden Administration continues its push to get high-speed trains up and running in one of the few advanced nations that doesn’t have them.
—Alan Ohnsman, Forbes, 9 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for third rail
Recent Examples of Synonyms for third rail
Noun
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Xinjiang supplies more than 80 percent of China’s cotton, but has been a hot button issue for years.Evan Clark, WWD, 5 Dec. 2024
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With just a week left until an election where the topic of protecting women's sports has become a hot button issue, Gabbard gave attendees a reminder of Harris' record in enabling transgender inclusion.Jackson Thompson, Fox News, 29 Oct. 2024
Noun
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Athena’s husband’s problems are a little less of a ticking time bomb, but equally contrived.Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 14 Nov. 2024
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Europe’s demographic challenges are becoming a ticking time bomb for the region’s economy, with Morgan Stanley delivering a grim prediction for its effects on GDP.Jason Ma, Fortune Europe, 14 Oct. 2024
Noun
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Although much of it was filmed in Ontario, the series has a good sense of Philadelphia as a stratified powder keg of a city.Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Nov. 2024
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Meanwhile, Josh is feeling the pressure after being benched due to legislative blunders, and the whole thing feels like a powder keg.Matthew Jackson, Vulture, 23 Sep. 2024
Noun
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The case became a flash point in the nation’s debate over racial injustice and crime, as well as the city’s ongoing struggle to deal with homelessness and mental health crises in a transit system used by millions of New Yorkers every day.Philip Marcelo, Los Angeles Times, 7 Dec. 2024
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Today, however, Maduro remains in power, and a surge in Venezuelan immigrants has emerged as a flash point in the U.S. presidential election.Samantha Schmidt, Washington Post, 26 July 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Third rail.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/third%20rail. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.
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