hot water

noun

: a difficult or dangerous situation : trouble entry 1 sense 4

—used with in or into

But this poor fellow was always getting into hot water, and if there was a wrong way of doing a thing, was sure to hit upon it.

—Richard Henry Dana, Jr.

In recent years, comedians have found themselves in hot water for making politically incorrect topics about everything from race to gender.

—James Hohmann

Examples of hot water in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

There is a scene in the film where the mother is placed inside a large cauldron filled with hot water. — Roberto Prieto, Variety, 14 Sep. 2026

And again, any inaccuracies here could put you in hot water legally further down the line. — David Ispiryan, Forbes.com, 14 Sep. 2026

It’s most often seen in adults, and common causes include using heating pads or hot water bottles for chronic pain or sitting too close to space heaters. — Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 10 Sep. 2026

As well as saunas, some run in a sweatsuit, use diuretics, steam rooms or do hot water immersions. — Sarah Shephard, New York Times, 10 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1840, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for hot water

• backwater
• bathwater
• blackwater
• breakwater
• deepwater
• edgewater
• feedwater
• floodwater
• freshwater
• granddaughter
• groundwater
• headwater

Kids Definition

hot water

noun

: a distressing situation : trouble

in hot water for not doing my chores