How to Use hot potato in a Sentence

hot potato

noun
  • He tried to avoid taking a strong stand on political hot potatoes like abortion.
  • This shock ball takes a twist on the classic game of hot potato.
    — Kevin Cortez, Popular Mechanics, 11 Nov. 2022
  • But rather than shoot the puck, the Wings played hot potato with it.
    — Helene St. James, Detroit Free Press, 13 Nov. 2021
  • Press hot potato flesh through a ricer or food mill into a large bowl.
    — Katlyn Moncada, Better Homes & Gardens, 24 Aug. 2025
  • The trio have spent the past two-plus years passing the world record around like a hot potato.
    — Dave Sheinin, Washington Post, 27 July 2024
  • The group was left close enough to each other to play market-cap hot potato.
    — Amrith Ramkumar, WSJ, 7 Jan. 2019
  • Transfer hot potatoes and beans to a large bowl and toss in enough vinaigrette to coat.
    — Kitty Greenwald, WSJ, 2 Aug. 2018
  • There is also a fiendishness that can lurk within the hot potato ploy too.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 1 Aug. 2022
  • That’s how the hot potato ended up in the Supreme Court’s lap.
    — Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 10 Nov. 2020
  • Holding each hot potato with an oven mitt or towel, peel quickly.
    — Bhg Test Kitchen, Better Homes & Gardens, 15 Nov. 2022
  • No telling if this game of celebrity hot potato for our voting rights will make a difference in the end.
    — Abigail Rosenthal, Chron, 7 May 2021
  • Pass hot potatoes through ricer or food mill into a large bowl (cold potatoes will become gummy).
    — Andy Baraghani, Bon Appetit, 17 Oct. 2017
  • Dropped Fremont like a hot potato to protect their core base in Detroit.
    — Levi Sumagaysay, chicagotribune.com, 23 May 2018
  • On the snack front, the site provides everything from spicy butter hot potato chips to jerky and jellies.
    — Jacorey Moon, Good Housekeeping, 6 May 2023
  • The hot potato now is passed to Del Mar, Baffert’s racing home away from home.
    — Bryce Miller Columnist, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 July 2021
  • The Pacers played hot potato with the ball after having as much as a 17-point lead.
    — J. Michael, The Indianapolis Star, 27 Mar. 2021
  • The historical approach has been to pass the risk off onto someone else like a game of hot potato.
    — Ziad Ismail, Forbes, 2 June 2021
  • The effort devolved into a cross between alphabet soup and a game of hot potato.
    — Andrew Selsky, Star Tribune, 6 Aug. 2020
  • Gaza has been a hot potato on the campaign trail, and this is a conflict that the winning party will inherit.
    — Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2024
  • But the subject is a hot potato in New Mexico for a few reasons.
    — Ian Dexter Palmer, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2025
  • Remove the potatoes from the oven and, holding a hot potato with a dry towel, make a vertical slit across the top.
    — Cathy Barrow, The Denver Post, 20 Sep. 2019
  • His death left the throne vacated, to be claimed and passed around by military strongmen like a royal game of hot potato.
    — Jason P. Dinh, Discover Magazine, 4 Nov. 2022
  • The Golden Globes telecast was something of a hot potato prior to this new deal.
    — Hilary Lewis, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Mar. 2024
  • The pair played hot potato until Jones gave it to Brian Hoyer.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 12 Sep. 2021
  • Lawmakers and the White House have long played a game of hot potato with the notion of what can become law.
    — Ashley Killough and Tal Kopan, CNN, 10 May 2018
  • Now, for the rest of the play, the family will play a particularly grisly game of hot potato.
    — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 18 Dec. 2023
  • Now, for the rest of the play, the family will play a particularly grisly game of hot potato.
    — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 16 June 2024
  • Credit for the town hall has become a hot potato in the local Catholic community.
    — Scott Wartman, The Enquirer, 21 July 2021
  • The result, Lepczyk says, is a political hot potato that no-one wants to handle.
    — Anthony Ham, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Mar. 2021
  • But the final portion of the evening, when Reggie’s last Q of the night gets passed around like a hot potato, is just so dumb and fun.
    — Vulture, 20 May 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hot potato.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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