An unforeseen or unexpected or surprising difficulty.

synonym: booby trap.

Roget 545: deception; falseness etc. 544; untruth etc. 546; imposition, imposture; fraud, deceit, guile; fraudulence, fraudulency^†; covin^†; knavery etc. (cunning) 702; misrepresentation etc. (falsehood) 544; bluff; straw-bail, straw bid [U.S.]; spoof [Slang].    delusion, gullery^†; juggling, jugglery^†; slight of hand, legerdemain; prestigiation^†, prestidigitation; magic etc. 992; conjuring, conjuration; hocus-pocus, escamoterie^†, jockeyship^†; trickery, coggery^†, chicanery; supercherie^†, cozenage^†, circumvention, ingannation^†, collusion; treachery etc. 940; practical joke.    trick, cheat, wile, blind, feint, plant, bubble, fetch, catch, chicane, juggle, reach, hocus, bite; card sharping, stacked deck, loaded dice, quick shuffle, double dealing, dealing seconds, dealing from the bottom of the deck; artful dodge, swindle; tricks upon travelers; stratagem etc. (artifice) 702; confidence trick, fake, hoax; theft etc. 791; ballot-box stuffing [U.S.], barney [Slang]; brace game [Slang], bunko game, drop game [Slang], gum game [U.S.], panel game [U.S.], shell game, thimblerig, skin game [U.S.].    snare, trap, pitfall, decoy, gin; springe^†, springle^†; noose, hoot; bait, decoy-duck, tub to the whale, baited trap, guet-a-pens; cobweb, net, meshes, toils, mouse trap, birdlime; dionaea^†, Venus's flytrap^†; ambush etc. 530; trapdoor, sliding panel, false bottom; spring-net, spring net, spring gun, mask, masked battery; mine; flytrap^†; green goods [U.S.]; panel house.    Cornish hug; wolf in sheep's clothing etc. (deceiver) 548; disguise, disguisement^†; false colors, masquerade, mummery, borrowed plumes; pattes de velours [Fr.].    mockery etc. (imitation) 19; copy etc. 21; counterfeit, sham, make-believe, forgery, fraud; lie etc. 546; a delusion a mockery and a snare" [Denman], hollow mockery.    whited sepulcher, painted sepulcher; tinsel; paste, junk jewelry, costume jewelry, false jewelry, synthetic jewels; scagliola^†, ormolu, German silver, albata^†, paktong^†, white metal, Britannia metal, paint; veneer; jerry building; man of straw.    illusion etc. (error) 495; ignis fatuus [Lat.] etc. 423; mirage etc. 443.    ... show more

Roget 667: rocks, reefs, coral reef, sunken rocks, snags; sands, quicksands; syrt^†, syrtis^†; Goodwin sands, sandy foundation; slippery ground; breakers, shoals, shallows, bank, shelf, flat, lee shore, ironbound coast; rock ahead, breakers ahead.    precipice; maelstrom, volcano; ambush etc. 530; pitfall, trapdoor; trap etc. (snare) 545.    sword of Damocles; wolf at the door, snake in the grass, death in the pot; latency etc. 526.    ugly customer, dangerous person, le chat qui dort [Fr.]; firebrand, hornet's nest.    ... show more

Roget 530: camouflage; mimicry; hiding place; secret place, secret drawer; recess, hold, holes and corners; closet, crypt, adytum^†, abditory^†, oubliette.    ambush, ambuscade; stalking horse; lurking hole, lurking place; secret path, back stairs; retreat etc. (refuge) 666.    screen, cover, shade, blinker; veil, curtain, blind, cloak, cloud.    mask, visor, vizor^†, disguise, masquerade dress, domino.    pitfall etc. (source of danger) 667; trap etc. (snare) 545.    ... show more

A trap in the form of a concealed hole.

synonym: pit.

Dutch: valkuil
Polish: wilczy dół