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Pitfall   /pˈɪtfˌɔl/   Listen
Pitfall

noun
1.
An unforeseen or unexpected or surprising difficulty.  Synonym: booby trap.
2.
A trap in the form of a concealed hole.  Synonym: pit.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Pitfall" Quotes from Famous Books



... some of the puzzles, especially in the Arithmetical and Algebraical category, are quite easy. Yet some of those examples that look the simplest should not be passed over without a little consideration, for now and again it will be found that there is some more or less subtle pitfall or trap into which the reader may be apt to fall. It is good exercise to cultivate the habit of being very wary over the exact wording of a puzzle. It teaches exactitude and caution. But some of the problems are very hard nuts indeed, and not unworthy ...
— Amusements in Mathematics • Henry Ernest Dudeney

... reason for escaping a pitfall, he had floundered in. "Like other men?" Northrup sneered at himself. No other man could be such a consummate fool, ...
— At the Crossroads • Harriet T. Comstock

... counsel for the prosecution. In the exercise of those arts all our knowledge of human nature, all possible learning in the word will be needed to their very last syllable. It is not true that any one is qualified to wave the lamp that shall reveal the pitfall in the path of the over-confident disciple. He must be a wise physician who has to diagnose the sickness of the soul. He must be a lawyer learned in the law who has to explain the position of the rebel before his flouted Sovereign. He must have larger skill ...
— The Message and the Man: - Some Essentials of Effective Preaching • J. Dodd Jackson

... Another pitfall, however, opens here. These contrasted doctrines may change roles. So long as by redemption we understand, in the mystic way, exaltation above finitude and existence, because all particularity is sin, to be redeemed is to abandon the Life of Reason; but redemption might mean extrication from untoward ...
— The Life of Reason • George Santayana

... more than this attitude of Meredith's. I knew his poetry pretty well, and knew how severe he was on every sensual weakness perhaps because it was his own pitfall. I knew too what a fighter he was at heart and how he loved the virile virtues; but I thought I knew the man, knew his tender kindliness of heart, the founts of pity in him, and I felt certain I could count on him for any office of human charity or generosity. ...
— Oscar Wilde, Volume 2 (of 2) - His Life and Confessions • Frank Harris


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