booby-trap 1 of 2

as in to attack
to place hidden explosive devices in or under booby-trapped the field bordering the army's camp

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booby trap

2 of 2

noun

1
as in mine
a usually concealed explosive device designed to go off when disturbed luckily, the bomb squad didn't find any booby traps

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2
as in hitch
a danger or difficulty that is hidden or not easily recognized he noticed the booby trap in the interviewer's question just a little too late

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of booby-trap
Noun
Jun-ho’s drone picks up on a door on the ground that turns out to be a booby trap that kills one person and injures another. Jennifer Zhan, Vulture, 26 Dec. 2024 And that does not even consider the likelihood of a beacon which is also a booby trap. David Hambling, Forbes, 29 Nov. 2024 From guns to booby traps, Dutch leads the charge to take down the gnarly, terrifying looking alien. Lauren Brown West-Rosenthal, Parents, 28 Nov. 2024 Wary of booby traps and with evening closing in, the troops did not enter the building until the next day. James MacKenzie, Reuters, 18 Oct. 2024 See All Example Sentences for booby-trap
Recent Examples of Synonyms for booby-trap
Verb
  • The pathogen is known as Fusarium graminearum, which can attack wheat, barley, maize and rice and sicken livestock and people, the FBI said in a court filing in Detroit.
    Ed White, Los Angeles Times, 4 June 2025
  • Her dad drove to Boulder to attack the protest three days later, according to investigators.
    Trevor Hughes, USA Today, 4 June 2025
Noun
  • Your therapist guides your eyes across your visual field using a pointer or their finger; mine used a digital pointer on-screen since our sessions were virtual.
    Kathleen Ferraro, SELF, 4 June 2025
  • As part of Musk’s DOGE efforts to reduce government, the mine agency rescinded job offers, froze hiring and reduced its ranks through deferred resignations.
    Bob Ortega, CNN Money, 4 June 2025
Noun
  • Suspect SSDs and Fusion Failures Crank out a few million laptops, and you're bound to occasionally have some hitches.
    Brian Westover, PC Magazine, 10 June 2025
  • Avoid these hosting mistakes to make sure your party goes off without a hitch.
    Claire Hoppe Norgaard, Better Homes & Gardens, 3 June 2025
Verb
  • Israel also bombed Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility, Natanz.
    Paul Iddon, Forbes.com, 13 June 2025
  • Several of the Dodgers’ depth starters have bombed out, such as Landon Knack, Bobby Miller and Justin Wrobleski (who was originally scheduled to start Wednesday’s game).
    Fabian Ardaya, New York Times, 11 June 2025
Noun
  • Latvia in April voted to leave the 1997 Ottawa Treaty, which bans the use, production and transfer of land mines, citing Russian aggression toward Ukraine.
    Eve Sampson, New York Times, 16 May 2025
  • The country hopes to be rid of land mines completely by 2030.
    Tereza Pultarova, Space.com, 29 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • If trapped by moving water, seek the highest possible point and contact emergency services by calling 911.
    NC Weather Bot, Charlotte Observer, 7 June 2025
  • On issue after issue — guns, property taxes, transgender rights — Republicans will try to trap Jolly, forcing him to play identity politics, likely a losing proposition.
    Steve Bousquet, Sun Sentinel, 7 June 2025
Noun
  • Miyazaki being pushed to the forefront, mostly due to the way audiences respond to his movies, risks diminishing the work of everyone else at the studio.
    Ryan Gaur, IndieWire, 10 June 2025
  • Some powders contain aspartame or acesulfame potassium (also known as acesulfame K), which, one 2022 study suggested, may be linked to a greater cancer risk (although other studies have not found this).
    MISAKI KAWATSU, Vogue, 10 June 2025
Noun
  • But the snag is that group is getting smaller and smaller.
    Kate Plummer, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 June 2025
  • Following the completion, an acrobatic snag near the left sideline, McCarthy raced down the field and chest-bumped the 6-foot-5, 252-pound Muse.
    Alec Lewis, New York Times, 29 May 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Booby-trap.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/booby-trap. Accessed 17 Jun. 2025.

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