"waiting to happen" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "accident waiting to happen"
      },
      "expansion": "accident waiting to happen",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "disaster waiting to happen"
      },
      "expansion": "disaster waiting to happen",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Modeled after accident waiting to happen and disaster waiting to happen; more generic uses outside of those phrases apparently started decades later, c. 1960s.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase"
      },
      "expansion": "waiting to happen",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "an accident waiting to happen, a divorce waiting to happen",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 September 30, Alexis Petridis, “U2 review – an utterly astonishing, admirably raw Vegas extravaganza”, in The Guardian, London",
          "text": "On the most prosaic level, there’s the section in the show when what appears to be a giant rope made of knotted sheets ascends to the roof and transforms itself into a swing. Bono selects a fan from the front row in an echo of U2’s fabled Live Aid performance, seats them in the swing and pushes them out over the audience: with the best will in the world, this seems less like stagecraft than an injury lawsuit waiting to happen.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Bound to happen; almost certain to occur in the future."
      ],
      "id": "en-waiting_to_happen-en-phrase-zTESjDA9",
      "links": [
        [
          "Bound to",
          "bound to"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial) Bound to happen; almost certain to occur in the future."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "waiting to happen"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "accident waiting to happen"
      },
      "expansion": "accident waiting to happen",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "disaster waiting to happen"
      },
      "expansion": "disaster waiting to happen",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Modeled after accident waiting to happen and disaster waiting to happen; more generic uses outside of those phrases apparently started decades later, c. 1960s.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase"
      },
      "expansion": "waiting to happen",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English colloquialisms",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English phrases",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "an accident waiting to happen, a divorce waiting to happen",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 September 30, Alexis Petridis, “U2 review – an utterly astonishing, admirably raw Vegas extravaganza”, in The Guardian, London",
          "text": "On the most prosaic level, there’s the section in the show when what appears to be a giant rope made of knotted sheets ascends to the roof and transforms itself into a swing. Bono selects a fan from the front row in an echo of U2’s fabled Live Aid performance, seats them in the swing and pushes them out over the audience: with the best will in the world, this seems less like stagecraft than an injury lawsuit waiting to happen.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Bound to happen; almost certain to occur in the future."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Bound to",
          "bound to"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial) Bound to happen; almost certain to occur in the future."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "waiting to happen"
}