[{"role": "user", "content": "I'm reading a thriller novel and I came across the phrase 'It was a time bomb.' Can you help me understand how to express this idiom in Italian?"}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "The phrase 'It was a time bomb' is an idiom that means a situation or problem that will cause trouble or have a bad effect at some point in the future. In Italian, you can express this idiom as 'Era una bomba a orologeria.'"}]