candle in the wind

plural candles in the wind

1. idiomaticA fragile or vulnerable thing, likely to be put in jeopardy.

   Ethiopia is a candle in the wind, the winds of war and fate […]

   2010, Phillip Dibble, The Fundamental Things, AuthorHouse, page 91

   5 more examples

   A woman of flame, they had called her. The flame had flickered and died like a candle in the wind--in the restless trade-wind blowing from the Koolau Range.

   1929, Earl Derr Biggers, chapter VII, in The Black Camel, Bobbs-Merrill

   The South Koreans have indeed accomplished an economic miracle in the past three decades but their economy is 'a candle in the wind' […]

   1990, Muthiah Alagappa, Institute of Strategic and International Studies (Malaysia), Building confidence, resolving conflicts: proceedings of the Second Asia-Pacific Roundtable, Kuala Lumpur, July 1-4, 1988, Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia, p. 14

   ... tyranny in Cameroon today is a candle in the wind. Its days, it is hoped, are numbered ...

   1999, Royal African Society, African affairs, Volume 98, Published for the Royal African Society by the Oxford University Press, p. 114

   There are a good number of people who feel that the girl child's life in India is a 'candle' in the wind which flickers for a moment to be extinguished for ever.

   2004, K.D. Gangrade, Moral Lessons From Gandhi S Autobiography And Other Essays, Concept Publishing Company, page 178

   Sometimes around here, it seems like hope is a candle in the wind.

   2007, Pacific indigenous dialogue: on faith, peace, reconciliation and good governance, Alafua Campus,Continuing and Community Education Programme, University of the South Pacific, p. 192