Minefield
noun
An area of land or sea where explosives have been hidden underground or underwater, usually used during a war.
The soldiers had to navigate through a minefield carefully to avoid any explosions.
Often appears as...
- navigate through a minefield
- clear a minefield
noun
A situation that has many hidden problems or dangers.
Navigating through the legal system can often feel like going through a minefield.
Often appears as...
- navigate through a legal minefield
- diplomatic minefield
Usage tips
Idiomatic
noun
An area of land or sea where explosives have been hidden underground or underwater, usually used during a war.
The soldiers had to navigate through a minefield carefully to avoid any explosions.
Often appears as...
- navigate through a minefield
- clear a minefield
noun
A situation that has many hidden problems or dangers.
Navigating through the legal system can often feel like going through a minefield.
Often appears as...
- navigate through a legal minefield
- diplomatic minefield
Usage tips
Idiomatic
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3War Associations
The term often implies danger in military or war settings, signaling a need for caution.
The demining team worked diligently in the minefield, left from the recent conflict.
Pro Tip 2/3Literal Danger
Used literally, 'minefield' refers to a real place with explosive mines, not just trouble or problems.
The area is a minefield; we must use a map to avoid setting off any mines.
Pro Tip 3/3Serious Risk
When describing a situation, 'minefield' suggests severe risks, not minor or trivial ones.
Discussing politics in this setting can be a social minefield.
Pro Tip 1/3War Associations
The term often implies danger in military or war settings, signaling a need for caution.
The demining team worked diligently in the minefield, left from the recent conflict.
Pro Tip 2/3Literal Danger
Used literally, 'minefield' refers to a real place with explosive mines, not just trouble or problems.
The area is a minefield; we must use a map to avoid setting off any mines.
Pro Tip 3/3Serious Risk
When describing a situation, 'minefield' suggests severe risks, not minor or trivial ones.
Discussing politics in this setting can be a social minefield.
Pro Tip 1/3War Associations
The term often implies danger in military or war settings, signaling a need for caution.
The demining team worked diligently in the minefield, left from the recent conflict.
Pro Tip 2/3Literal Danger
Used literally, 'minefield' refers to a real place with explosive mines, not just trouble or problems.
The area is a minefield; we must use a map to avoid setting off any mines.
Pro Tip 3/3Serious Risk
When describing a situation, 'minefield' suggests severe risks, not minor or trivial ones.
Discussing politics in this setting can be a social minefield.
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Video examples
Correcting a Dachshund's...
through a simulated minefield. Don't say a word. Just kind of guide with energy, body language. Ready? I don't know that she's going to do that with me. That's not something that we-- Well, then let's make it happen. Got to see it in your mind. I want you to remember, the most important as you're starting, is calmness.
Video examples
Ross Ice Shelf Research...
we're going to discover no one's ever done this before it's exploration it's going to be interesting from this point on we've got four hours pouring into the shear zone very gingerly make your way through what's essentially a minefield of grasses knowing that it's it's my responsibility to make sure that
Video examples
Why we have an emotional...
and it would walk around a minefield on its legs, and every time it stepped on a mine, one of the legs would blow up, and it would continue on the other legs to blow up more mines. And the colonel who was in charge of this testing exercise ends up calling it off, because, he says, it's too inhumane
Video examples
How to teach kids to...
I also know that teaching about these things in schools can feel like navigating a minefield. For example, what happens if parents or families aren't on board with having these conversations in schools? But to these people, I can these are some examples of things that students have said to me
Video examples
Inside the ant colony -...
to enabling groups of robots to search a minefield or a burning building collectively, without any central control. But you can observe these fascinatingly simple, yet effective, processes directly through some simple experiments, by allowing ants to enter empty spaces of various sizes
Video examples
Zeynep Tufekci: How the...
navigated a minefield of political dangers, faced repression and overcame, won major policy concessions, navigated and innovated through risks. In contrast, three years after Occupy sparked that global conversation about inequality,
Video examples
Why it's worth listening...
a mental illness characterized by mood swings and paranoid delusions. Throughout my life, my mother's rage would turn our small house into a minefield. Yet, though I feared her rage on a daily basis,
Video examples
BBC Earth 50 Top Natural...
deeply buried but it would place to cool off foraging decisions must be fast to be perfect back to the nest before they also died but they strayed into a minefield
Video examples
Amazing: Watch an...
it's very very important that you know people understand that we're not there to take elephant and put them into a learn minefield the idea is to bring the
Video examples
Antlion Cone Death Trap...
But they've strayed into a minefield. Each of these strange, cone-shaped pits is a death-trap
Video examples
Correcting a Dachshund's...
through a simulated minefield. Don't say a word. Just kind of guide with energy, body language. Ready? I don't know that she's going to do that with me. That's not something that we-- Well, then let's make it happen. Got to see it in your mind. I want you to remember, the most important as you're starting, is calmness.
Video examples
Ross Ice Shelf Research...
we're going to discover no one's ever done this before it's exploration it's going to be interesting from this point on we've got four hours pouring into the shear zone very gingerly make your way through what's essentially a minefield of grasses knowing that it's it's my responsibility to make sure that
Video examples
Why we have an emotional...
and it would walk around a minefield on its legs, and every time it stepped on a mine, one of the legs would blow up, and it would continue on the other legs to blow up more mines. And the colonel who was in charge of this testing exercise ends up calling it off, because, he says, it's too inhumane
Video examples
How to teach kids to...
I also know that teaching about these things in schools can feel like navigating a minefield. For example, what happens if parents or families aren't on board with having these conversations in schools? But to these people, I can these are some examples of things that students have said to me
Video examples
Inside the ant colony -...
to enabling groups of robots to search a minefield or a burning building collectively, without any central control. But you can observe these fascinatingly simple, yet effective, processes directly through some simple experiments, by allowing ants to enter empty spaces of various sizes
Video examples
Zeynep Tufekci: How the...
navigated a minefield of political dangers, faced repression and overcame, won major policy concessions, navigated and innovated through risks. In contrast, three years after Occupy sparked that global conversation about inequality,
Video examples
Why it's worth listening...
a mental illness characterized by mood swings and paranoid delusions. Throughout my life, my mother's rage would turn our small house into a minefield. Yet, though I feared her rage on a daily basis,
Video examples
BBC Earth 50 Top Natural...
deeply buried but it would place to cool off foraging decisions must be fast to be perfect back to the nest before they also died but they strayed into a minefield
Video examples
Amazing: Watch an...
it's very very important that you know people understand that we're not there to take elephant and put them into a learn minefield the idea is to bring the
Video examples
Antlion Cone Death Trap...
But they've strayed into a minefield. Each of these strange, cone-shaped pits is a death-trap
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Bruce Springsteen
American Musician
Work creates an enormous sense of self and I saw that in my mother. She was an enormous, towering figure to me in the best possible way. I picked up a lot of things from her in the way that I work... I also picked up a lot of the failings of when your father doesn't have those things and that results in a house that turns into a minefield.
Quote examples
Owen Jones
British Journalist
Grief is like wandering through a minefield, as my mother puts it: however carefully you tread, a sudden detonation can happen out of nowhere. A song played in a supermarket; an overheard phrase; someone in the distance who your mind cruelly suggests is your loved one for a fleeting moment.
Quote examples
Ian K. Smith
American Author
Death just comes, not happiness. Because when you're trying to find happiness, you're trying to navigate a very, very murky minefield of distractions, of disappointments, of deceptions. That's why you have to work on happiness.
Quote examples
Emily V. Gordon
American Writer
Your wedding day is supposed to be your big day, and yet a lot of engaged couples find that instead of creating an event that will be important to them, they're dodging through a minefield of modern etiquette traps.
Quote examples
Brene Brown
American Author
Ironically, parenting is a shame and judgment minefield precisely because most of us are wading through uncertainty and self-doubt when it comes to raising our children.
Quote examples
John Ortberg
American Clergyman
Prudence is not the same thing as caution. Caution is a helpful strategy when you're crossing a minefield; it's a disaster when you're in a gold rush.
Quote examples
Zhu Rongji
Chinese Statesman
Even if a minefield or the abyss should lie before me, I will march straight ahead without looking back.
Quote examples
Naval Ravikant
Businessman
Getting in the middle of financial transactions is a regulatory minefield.
Quote examples
Simon Sebag Montefiore
British Historian
Writing about Jerusalem can be such a minefield.
Quote examples
Michelle Williams
American Actress
An interview is like a minefield.
Quote examples
Bruce Springsteen
American Musician
Work creates an enormous sense of self and I saw that in my mother. She was an enormous, towering figure to me in the best possible way. I picked up a lot of things from her in the way that I work... I also picked up a lot of the failings of when your father doesn't have those things and that results in a house that turns into a minefield.
Quote examples
Owen Jones
British Journalist
Grief is like wandering through a minefield, as my mother puts it: however carefully you tread, a sudden detonation can happen out of nowhere. A song played in a supermarket; an overheard phrase; someone in the distance who your mind cruelly suggests is your loved one for a fleeting moment.
Quote examples
Ian K. Smith
American Author
Death just comes, not happiness. Because when you're trying to find happiness, you're trying to navigate a very, very murky minefield of distractions, of disappointments, of deceptions. That's why you have to work on happiness.
Quote examples
Emily V. Gordon
American Writer
Your wedding day is supposed to be your big day, and yet a lot of engaged couples find that instead of creating an event that will be important to them, they're dodging through a minefield of modern etiquette traps.
Quote examples
Brene Brown
American Author
Ironically, parenting is a shame and judgment minefield precisely because most of us are wading through uncertainty and self-doubt when it comes to raising our children.
Quote examples
John Ortberg
American Clergyman
Prudence is not the same thing as caution. Caution is a helpful strategy when you're crossing a minefield; it's a disaster when you're in a gold rush.
Quote examples
Zhu Rongji
Chinese Statesman
Even if a minefield or the abyss should lie before me, I will march straight ahead without looking back.
Quote examples
Naval Ravikant
Businessman
Getting in the middle of financial transactions is a regulatory minefield.
Quote examples
Simon Sebag Montefiore
British Historian
Writing about Jerusalem can be such a minefield.
Quote examples
Michelle Williams
American Actress
An interview is like a minefield.
Example 1 of 10
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