Idiom
valley of death
Meaning
A place of great danger.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“The soldiers had to cross the valley of death to reach safety.”
“The explorers knew that entering the dark, narrow canyon felt like walking into a valley of death.”
“After the army retreated, the abandoned territory became a true valley of death for anyone foolish enough to remain behind.”
Examples
simple
“The soldiers had to cross the valley of death to reach safety.”
contextual
“The explorers knew that entering the dark, narrow canyon felt like walking into a valley of death.”
complex
“After the army retreated, the abandoned territory became a true valley of death for anyone foolish enough to remain behind.”
Origin
Attested as a likely derivation from the Old Testament, the phrase finds its origin in Psalm 23. It represents a compression of the biblical valley of the shadow of death, appearing in English contexts without the qualifying shadow.
Key words
Related idioms
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