Question

Choose the exact meaning of the idiom/phrase-
A snake in the grass.
a. A very poisonous snake.
b. A secret agent
c. An unrecognisable enemy or danger.
d. An unreliable person.

Answer 1

Hint : A snake in a grass is a sneaky person who appears harmless or even friendly but in fact, is treacherous.

Complete answer:
A snake in the grass is an idiom that extends back into antiquity. An idiom is a word, group or words or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is not easily deducted from its literal meaning. The above given sentence is a metaphor, which means a treacherous person. For example : No one knew he was such a snake in the grass.
Now, let us examine all the given options to find out the correct answer :
Option ‘a’ is A very poisonous snake. As mentioned above, the given phrase has no literal meaning and it only has a metaphoric meaning. So, a snake is not actually meant by the given idiom. This is the wrong option.
Option ‘b’ is A secret agent. A snake in the grass is NOT a secret agent, it is someone who may be harmful to us at some point of time. So, this is also not the correct option.
Option ‘c’ is An unrecognisable enemy or danger. This option seems to be the correct one as the metaphoric meaning of the given phrase matches to that of this option. It does mean someone who is unrecognisable now, but can be a danger or threat later.
Option ‘d’ is An unreliable person. This is not the correct option as someone who is a snake in the grass has to be dangerous and NOT reliable.
As we have analysed all the given options, we can easily figure out the correct answer. The meaning of the idiom “a snake in the grass” means “an unrecognisable enemy or danger”. Hence, option ‘c’ is the correct option.

Note : Do not get confused between option ‘b’ and option ‘c’, because a secret agent may or may not be dangerous to us.