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polveriera

powder keg

noun pol-veh-RYEH-rah Rare

Origin: From polvere (powder/dust) + -iera (container suffix).

Also means

powder magazine

Usage Note

Polveriera is feminine (la polveriera, pl. le polveriere). Literally it is a building storing gunpowder, but in modern usage it is almost always figurative: una polveriera politica (a political powder keg), describing an explosive, unstable situation on the verge of erupting.

Examples

"Quella regione è una vera polveriera."

Natural Translation

That region is a real powder keg.

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