valley of the shadow of death
A very dangerous place.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“He felt like he was in the valley of the shadow of death.”
“The soldiers knew they were entering the valley of the shadow of death as they crossed the dangerous border.”
“Trapped behind enemy lines with no supplies, the small group felt as though they were walking through the valley of the shadow of death.”
From Psalm 23 of the Book of Psalms. "Shadow of death" is a calque of Hebrew צלמות.
- 01
afraid of one's own shadow
Exceptionally timid.
- 02
article of death
The moment of death.
- 03
cast a shadow
To dampen future events.
- 04
catch one's death
To contract a serious illness, especially a nasty cold or other respiratory ailment and especially as a result of exposure to wet or chilly weather.
- 05
death and taxes
Something which is totally certain.
- 06
death by a thousand paper cuts
An ultimate negative outcome, such as the failure of a project, brought about by an excessive number of bureaucratic hurdles.
- 07
death by PowerPoint
The boredom or disengagement that an audience experiences from poorly designed or overly verbose presentations using any type of presentation software.
- 08
die a thousand deaths
To suffer repeatedly (often mentally rather than physically); to suffer extreme embarrassment or anxiety.
Last updated August 10, 2026