death trap

noun

: a structure or situation that is potentially very dangerous to life

Example Sentences

That old elevator is a death trap.

The factory was a death trap with too few exits for the workers to use in case of a fire.

Recent Examples on the Web

This building is a death trap. —Journal Sentinel, 30 Dec. 2022

The plane really was a death trap. —Devon Ivie, Vulture, 2 Feb. 2021

Every dive is fraught with peril, every constricted chamber in the vast subterranean maze could turn out to be a death trap. —Joe Morgenstern, WSJ, 7 Oct. 2021

As more people crossed into South Texas in the 2010s, Brooks County became a death trap for many migrants who tried walking around a Border Patrol highway checkpoint in the town of Falfurrias, about 70 miles north of the border. —Dallas News, 2 Sep. 2022

The franchise has gone from a golden destination for quarterbacks to a death trap in the eyes of the public. —Nate Atkins, The Indianapolis Star, 11 Nov. 2022

For old-school, high-church surfers, the search for a hundred-foot wave can seem like a marketing conceit, not to mention a death trap. —William Finnegan, The New Yorker, 23 May 2022

Many sheltered in place, terrified that their own home could become a death trap. —New York Times, 16 Jan. 2022

The United States and Taiwan must urgently invest in the capabilities — sea mines, anti-ship missiles, unmanned aerial and underwater vehicles — that could turn the Taiwan Strait into a death trap for Chinese forces. —Hal Brands, National Review, 17 Feb. 2022

See More

Word History

First Known Use

1828, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

death trap

noun

: an object or situation likely to cause death

that old elevator is a death trap