From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtroubled waterstroubled watersa difficult situation, especially where there is a lot of disagreement and problems We don’t want to enter the troubled waters of race and religion.pour oil on troubled waters (=try to make an angry situation calmer) → troubled
Examples from the Corpus
troubled waters• This particular fish was very shortly going to find itself in exceedingly troubled waters.• The Oxford oar presented as a momento, will help bail him out of any troubled waters he's yet to encounter.• We don't need to enter the troubled waters of religious truth-claims.• After just half an hour in the pool, it was back to the troubled waters of the Foreign Office. 