Meaning of slender reed | Babel Free

Definitions

A person, fact, or resource on which one can rely only to a limited extent.

idiomatic

Examples

“"It was perfectly natural for you to think that a lad of eighteen was a slender reed to lean on in the time of trouble and danger."”

“"It is a slender reed," Gilbert said, "for so mighty an issue to rest upon."”

“Yet these precedents offer no more than a slender reed for Gordon Brown, almost hopelessly down in the polls, to cling to.”

“The nomination of a gay black Miami judge to the federal bench will not move forward after Senator Marco Rubio announced he was withdrawing his support over concerns about the judge’s actions in two criminal cases. . . . “That is a slender reed for Senator Rubio to hang this on,” said Representative Alcee Hastings, Democrat of Florida, referring to the two court cases.”

CEFR level