dodge a bullet

• IPA^(key): /dɒdʒ ə ˈbʊlɪt/

• Audio (AU)

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dodge a bullet

1. (idiomatic, informal) To have a narrow escape; to avoid injury, disaster, or some other undesirable situation.
   • 1989 Dec. 7, Milt Freudenheim, "Scramble on Health-Care Costs," New York Times (retrieved 6 March 2014):

     "We have all these thousands of bill payers trying to dodge a bullet, trying to shift costs and pay less."

   • 2010 Nov. 8, Jessica Desvarieux, "A Storm Averted, Haiti's Cholera Threat Grows," Time (retrieved 6 March 2014):

     Haiti dodged a bullet when Tropical Storm Tomas, once a hurricane, did minimal damage to the country's earthquake-ravaged capital of Port-au-Prince.

   • 2013 Oct. 4, Tony Nitti, "Switching Gears," Forbes (retrieved 6 March 2014):

     By finding and fixing my aneurysm before it ruptured, I had miraculously dodged a bullet.