to wait for the other shoe to drop - idiom meaning?

Question

What is the meaning of "to wait for the other shoe to drop" idiom?

Answer 1

 

wait for the other shoe to drop - Examples:

1)  As an economist, whenever I hear the word shortage I wait for the other shoe to drop. That other shoe is usually price control.
2)  With a rental unit, I think I'd constantly be waiting for the other shoe to drop. What if the landlord decides to sell and the new owner is terrible?
3)  I felt like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. I finally realized that I had been suppressing feelings of terror.
4)  I had a constant icky feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop until I spoke with the person today.
5)  In the back of our minds we are always and ever waiting for the other shoe to drop. We know our lives are ultimately tragic.
6)  I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop, when she'll start messing up the graphics.
7)  I had been holding my breathe since I was seven, waiting for the other shoe to drop. I have been basically inhaling everyone else's energies my whole life.
8)  Many of us are still getting ready for the storm -- waiting for the other shoe to drop, and living in a false reality of things not consistently being in harmony.
9)  Yet everyone was -- and still is -- waiting for the other shoe to drop. Some of these issues had been fought about for years!
10)  I am always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Every time something goes right then 1,000,000 things go wrong.
11)  I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop with Jeff. I kept waiting for him to go negative.
12)  You remember what I had just been saying? About NOT waiting for the other shoe to drop, and me, attempting to just enjoy the journey?
13)  So every time she was nice, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Except it almost never did.
14)  We wonder what else he is going to do, and " waiting for the other shoe to drop " is a classic horror-movie technique.
15)  There are thriller elements, too, which always left me waiting for the other shoe to drop. This is surprisingly one of the strengths of the book.
16) It is difficult to know how to change the conversation after cancer from fear-based " waiting for the other shoe to drop " to confident " being back in the swing " every day.
17)  Your entire life becomes consumed with apprehension while you are waiting for the other shoe to drop.
18)  But I was still nervous and constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. I was still terrified of relapse.
19)  I am always waiting for the other shoe to drop.
20)  I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop whenever I see those little snowflakes on the Environment Canada weather website.
 
 
 

Answer 2

wait for the other shoe to drop - Gerund Form:

Waiting for the other shoe to drop is a terrible way to go through life.
 

Answer 3

wait for the other shoe to drop - Usage:

 
formal<-----------X----|--------------->informal
 

Answer 4

Idiom Scenario 2:

Two friends are talking ...

Friend 1: Why so sad?
Friend 2: Things have not been going well with my girlfriend. We've been drifting apart and she has cancelled our last three dates.
Friend 1: And you're waiting for the other shoe to drop?
Friend 2: It seems inevitable that she' s going to break up with me.

Answer 5

Idiom Scenario 1:

Two colleagues are talking ...

Colleague 1: It is only a matter of time now before we are fired.
Colleague 2: Why do you say that?
Colleague 1: Since the takeover, there have been all sorts of negative results. Entire teams have been fired.
Colleague 2: If you don't do anything proactive and only sit and wait for the other shoe to drop, then your negative prediction will probably come true.

Answer 6

Idiom Definition:

"to wait for the other shoe to drop"

to anticipate something negative happening as a result of or related to a previous negative event

 
Synonyms: anticipation, apprehension, auguration, augury, boding, clue, expectation, feeling in one's bones, foreboding, forecast, foreknowledge, forewarning, fore-wisdom, funny feeling, glimmer, hint, impression, inkling, instinct, intuition, misgiving, notion, omination, portent, pre-apprehension, precognition, preconceived notion, premonition, pre-notation, pre-notice, presage, presagement, prescience, presentiment, qualm, suspicion, thought