third rail

T t

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- [thurd reyl]
- /θɜrd reɪl/
- /θɜːd reɪl/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [thurd reyl]
- /θɜrd reɪl/

Definitions of third rail words

noun third rail Railroads. a rail laid parallel and adjacent to the running rails of an electrified railroad to provide electric current to the motors of a car or locomotive through contact shoes. an additional running rail laid on the same ties as the two regular rails of a railroad track to provide a multigauge capability. 1
noun third rail a controversial topic or issue in the public sphere that people, especially politicians, try to avoid discussing (often used attributively): a third-rail subject; Doping is the third rail of the Olympics. Social Security is the third rail of American politics. 1
countable noun third rail The third rail on a railroad track is the steel bar which passes electric current to a train. 0
singular noun third rail If you refer to something as the third rail of a political situation, you mean that it would be dangerous to make changes to that thing because people feel very strongly about it. 0
noun third rail an extra rail from which an electric train picks up current by means of a sliding collector to feed power to its motors 0
noun third rail a cause or topic that is considered extremely dangerous for a person to support or comment on 0

See all 8 definitions of third rail

Information block about the term

Origin of third rail

First appearance:

before 1865

One of the 28% newest English words

An Americanism dating back to 1865-70

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Third rail

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Third rail

third rail popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 34% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.

According to our data about 60% of words is more used. This is a rare but used term. It occurs in the pages of specialized literature and in the speech of educated people.

third rail usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer