a perfect storm
A rare combination of factors that come together to create an especially bad situation.
Example: Rising costs, a strike, and bad weather created a perfect storm for the airline.
C222 words · Proficient
Weather & Nature Idioms vocabulary — C2
Weather idioms for advanced description of crisis and risk, with phrases like a perfect storm, scorched earth and sail close to the wind.
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Words in this set
22scorched earth
An aggressive strategy that deliberately destroys everything useful and leaves nothing behind.
Example:
The outgoing CEO took a scorched earth approach, cancelling every contract on his way out.
shifting sands
A constantly changing and unstable situation that is difficult to rely on.
Example:
Political alliances in the region are built on shifting sands.
an ill wind that blows nobody any good
Said about a bad situation that unexpectedly turns out to benefit someone.
Example:
It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good — their loss was our gain.
a cloud on the horizon
A sign of a possible problem that might happen in the future.
Example:
Rising costs are a cloud on the horizon for the business.
reap the whirlwind
To suffer severe, often unavoidable, consequences for your own past actions.
Example:
After years of ignoring warnings, the company began to reap the whirlwind.
a drought of
A serious shortage or lack of something.
Example:
The team suffered a drought of good ideas this quarter.
a snowball effect
A situation that keeps growing bigger and more serious as it develops, with each stage causing more of the same.
Example:
One late payment caused a snowball effect across the whole budget.
on the rocks
In serious trouble and likely to fail, especially describing a relationship or business.
Example:
Their marriage has been on the rocks for months.
sail close to the wind
To take a risky course of action that comes right up to the edge of breaking a rule or law.
Example:
The company's tax plan sails close to the wind.
any port in a storm
In trouble you accept any help available.
Example:
The office above a chip shop was any port in a storm.
a watershed
The dividing point after which everything changes.
Example:
That season was a watershed for the whole competition.
a groundswell
A growing feeling among a large number of people.
Example:
There was a groundswell of objection before anyone organised it.
a maelstrom
A situation of violent confusion.
Example:
The first week was a maelstrom and nothing was written down.
a deluge
A very large amount arriving all at once.
Example:
A deluge of applications arrived in the last two hours.
becalmed
/bɪˈkɑmd/Left without any movement or momentum.
Example:
The project sat becalmed for eleven months waiting on one signature.
green shoots
The first small signs of recovery.
Example:
There were green shoots by the spring and frost by the summer.
the dog days
The hottest and most sluggish part of the summer.
Example:
Nothing gets decided in the dog days of August.
a sea of troubles
A very large number of difficulties at once.
Example:
He inherited a sea of troubles and one part-time assistant.
run aground
To fail because of an obstacle.
Example:
The negotiation run aground on a single clause.
a barometer of
A reliable indicator of how something is changing.
Example:
Second-hand prices are a barometer of the whole market.
weather-beaten
Worn and marked by long exposure to the weather.
Example:
The sign was weather-beaten and had not been read in years.
