tar baby

Noun

Meaning

(derogatory, ethnic slur) A black person.

(chiefly US) A difficult, abstract problem that worsens as one attempts to handle it; a "sticky" situation, especially one where attempts to make it better only make it worse.

Examples

Having said that, I don't want to hug the tar baby of trying to comment on the program - the alleged program - the existence of which I can neither confirm nor deny. Tony Snow

Close letter words and terms