land mine
noun
: a mine usually placed just below the surface of the ground and designed to be exploded usually by the weight of vehicles or troops passing over it
—often used figuratively
Every aspect of this scheme is a potential land mine.—
Henry A. Kissinger
Henry A. Kissingera political land mine
Synonyms
Examples of land mine in a Sentence
parents of teenagers never know when they might set off an emotional land mine
Recent Examples on the Web
The first four episodes take place over summer 1997, as Diana (Elizabeth Debicki), now formally divorced from Charles (Dominic West), finds new purpose through a campaign against land mines.
—Meredith Blake, Los Angeles Times, 16 Nov. 2023
Explosive materials, artillery shells, undetonated bombs or rockets and land mines have contaminated a swath of land roughly the size of Florida or Uruguay.
—Shera Avi-Yonah, Washington Post, 23 July 2023
But questions about leadership still lead to the prison on the northern border of Tehran, nestled in hills planted with land mines.
—Karl Vick, TIME, 6 Oct. 2023
This month is full of land mines that will explode money and opportunity into the sky for you.
—Meghan Rose, Glamour, 1 Oct. 2023
Thousands of rounds of artillery are fired every week, tanks batter buildings, land mines are everywhere and drones hover overhead picking off troops below.
—Julian E. Barnes, New York Times, 18 Aug. 2023
It was devoted to land mine removal, the kind of extreme task that robots have long been assigned.
—Ben Ryder Howe Nic Antaya, New York Times, 29 July 2023
Experts found land mines on the periphery of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant during a walk-through this week, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said.
—Eve Sampson, Washington Post, 25 July 2023
In the school’s courtyard, Clara Haas points to a poster with colorful illustrations of bombs and land mines.
—Sira Thierij, The Christian Science Monitor, 9 Aug. 2023
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Meredith Blake, Los Angeles Times, 16 Nov. 2023
Explosive materials, artillery shells, undetonated bombs or rockets and land mines have contaminated a swath of land roughly the size of Florida or Uruguay.
—Shera Avi-Yonah, Washington Post, 23 July 2023
But questions about leadership still lead to the prison on the northern border of Tehran, nestled in hills planted with land mines.
—Karl Vick, TIME, 6 Oct. 2023
This month is full of land mines that will explode money and opportunity into the sky for you.
—Meghan Rose, Glamour, 1 Oct. 2023
Thousands of rounds of artillery are fired every week, tanks batter buildings, land mines are everywhere and drones hover overhead picking off troops below.
—Julian E. Barnes, New York Times, 18 Aug. 2023
It was devoted to land mine removal, the kind of extreme task that robots have long been assigned.
—Ben Ryder Howe Nic Antaya, New York Times, 29 July 2023
Experts found land mines on the periphery of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant during a walk-through this week, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said.
—Eve Sampson, Washington Post, 25 July 2023
In the school’s courtyard, Clara Haas points to a poster with colorful illustrations of bombs and land mines.
—Sira Thierij, The Christian Science Monitor, 9 Aug. 2023
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'land mine.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1890, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near land mine
Cite this Entry
“Land mine.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/land%20mine. Accessed 4 Dec. 2023.
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Kids Definition
land mine
noun
: a mine placed just below the surface of the ground and designed to be exploded by the weight of the vehicles or troops passing over it
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