hornet's nest

1. 1.

   a highly contentious or hazardous situation

   “talk of invading Iraq stirred up a political hornets' nest”

   Synonymshornets' nest

   Broadersituation
2. 2.

   habitation for wasps or hornets

   Synonymswasp's nestwasps' nesthornets' nest

   Broadernidus

Questions about hornet's nest

What does hornet's nest mean?

hornet's nest means "a highly contentious or hazardous situation". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for hornet's nest?

Close synonyms include hornets' nest, wasp's nest, wasps' nest, hornets' nest. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is hornet's nest a common word?

hornet's nest is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.