English Reference

Idiom

slender reed

Meaning

A person, fact, or resource on which one can rely only to a limited extent.

Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Examples

“That promise is a slender reed to rely on.”

“His argument for the new policy is a slender reed that will likely break under pressure.”

“The politician's defense rested upon a slender reed of circumstantial evidence, which the prosecutor quickly dismantled during the trial.”

Examples

simple

“That promise is a slender reed to rely on.”

contextual

“His argument for the new policy is a slender reed that will likely break under pressure.”

complex

“The politician's defense rested upon a slender reed of circumstantial evidence, which the prosecutor quickly dismantled during the trial.”

Key words

Related idioms

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English Reference