sand

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sand often taken as a type of unstable or impermanent material.
built on sand lacking a firm foundation, ephemeral; often with biblical allusion to the parable in Matthew 7, in which of two houses it is the house built on rock which withstands the floods, and the house built on sand which falls.

See also bury one's head in the sand, (draw) a line in the sand, rope of sand, sands.

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