Loose Cannon

Noun · Slang & Abbreviations

Definitions

  1. A person, tool, or process that is unpredictable enough to create risk for everyone nearby. In engineering slang, loose cannons may be effective sometimes, but nobody wants to be within their blast radius during a release.

    In plain English: Someone or something powerful but unpredictable and risky.

    Example: "He was a brilliant debugger but a loose cannon in review, landing broad refactors without enough warning for teams that depended on those interfaces."

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