slender reed
Weak thing trusted
A slender reed is something or someone too weak or unreliable to depend on.
The image comes from the tall marsh grass that bends and breaks under pressure—lean on it and you'll fall.
The treaty proved a slender reed when war came.
Often used with verbs of support: to lean on a slender reed, to rest one's hopes on a slender reed.
- slimThin or meager
- wispThin, delicate trace
- shaftNarrow vertical passage
- stemPlant's central axis
- stalkPlant's vertical support
cane · wand · fragile · resilience · papyrus · reliance · vulnerability · sway · pliability · ephemerality · narrow · hollow stem · adaptability · cattail · matting · bulrush · humility · nature
slender reedrock
Solid earthen material
bedrock · anchor · mainstay · bulwark · sure thing
slender reedsteel beam
Structural metal member
buttress · fortress · oak · pillar · solid rock
slender, reed, slenderer, slenderest, slenderly, slenderness, reeds, reedy