How to Use third rail in a Sentence

third rail

noun
  • Social Security is the third rail of American politics.
  • Someone needs to touch the third rail.
    — Dp Opinion, Denver Post, 23 Mar. 2026
  • Now might be the moment where that third rail concept is solved.
    — Michael Gale, Forbes, 10 Mar. 2021
  • Rego’s rage runs through the decades, and the galleries of the show, like a third rail.
    — Anna Russel, The New Yorker, 29 July 2021
  • For the longest time, this was a complete third rail of an issue.
    — Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 11 June 2024
  • Over the past decade, the rape joke has become the third rail of comedy.
    — Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 6 Nov. 2019
  • In the third rail car, a seat had fallen onto Dorsey’s legs, her son said.
    — Meg Kinnard, The Seattle Times, 4 Feb. 2018
  • It was believed to be caused by a small bag of garbage that was ignited by the third rail.
    — Bradford Betz, Fox News, 27 Apr. 2022
  • There was also a third rail for power overhead inside the cage.
    — Kevin Leonard, baltimoresun.com, 6 Sep. 2019
  • Gu landed a middling run the first time, then fell off the third rail on her second attempt.
    — New York Times, 14 Feb. 2022
  • Climate change and its implications have been a third rail for much of the world for a long time.
    — Michael Gale, Forbes, 10 Mar. 2021
  • No one was injured, but the T had to cut power to the third rail to let the crew backtrack.
    — Laura Crimaldi, BostonGlobe.com, 12 Aug. 2023
  • Three, the third rail of immigration keeps closing in.
    — Jim Cramer, CNBC, 10 Nov. 2025
  • Just as the president lays his hand on the third rail of race, the athletes are responding.
    — Michael Powell, New York Times, 23 Sep. 2017
  • Tame stuff for most comics, but the third rail for a kid from an evangelical Christian home.
    — Tim Greiving, Los Angeles Times, 4 Mar. 2022
  • That’s three third rails in American politics in a row.
    — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 29 Oct. 2025
  • There have been several near-misses when power to the third rail was turned back on before the tracks were cleared.
    — Washington Post, 22 Sep. 2020
  • But there’s still a considerable amount of voltage flowing through the third rails of last year’s midterms.
    — Jason Linkins, The New Republic, 6 Oct. 2023
  • Because the culture or, to be more precise, these image-makers, are not yet ready to touch that third rail.
    — The New Yorker, 15 Feb. 2022
  • To be fair, musical numbers have always had the potential to be a third rail.
    — Washington Post, 22 Mar. 2022
  • And yet in the discourse over admissions equity, sports is a kind of third rail no one seems eager to touch.
    — Town & Country, 18 Jan. 2023
  • But whoever wins next week will have little choice but to stretch out his hand toward the third rail of politics.
    — Tara Siegel Bernard, New York Times, 28 Oct. 2020
  • If our job as marketers is to invite as many people as possible, sometimes that feels like a third rail not to touch.
    — Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 25 Nov. 2024
  • The city's rapid transit lines were shut down for the first time in 20 years as ice covered the electrified third rail.
    — Tom Skilling, chicagotribune.com, 27 Mar. 2018
  • The third rail of French politics has long been pensions and retirement.
    — David A. Andelman, CNN, 11 Jan. 2023
  • The impact caused part of the third rail to impale the vehicle’s gas tank and shred the first passenger car of the train.
    — Brian Brant, PEOPLE, 13 Jan. 2026
  • Some died of hypothermia, burned to death while huddling near a hot plate for warmth, or were electrocuted by the third rail.
    — William McGurn, WSJ, 29 Dec. 2018
  • The treatment of conscripts has been a political third rail in the past for Russia.
    — Ivana Kottasová, CNN, 16 Aug. 2024
  • The conflict in Gaza is an obvious third rail in Hollywood right now.
    — Zak Cheney-Rice, Vulture, 28 Aug. 2025
  • The sound of track rats scrambling, deftly avoiding the third rail, in the subway station during the commute home.
    — Dodai Stewart, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'third rail.' 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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