Idiom 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.”
Anchors to
Last updated August 10, 2026