WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

hot water
    n 1: a dangerous or distressing predicament; "his views on race
         got him into political hot water"

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

51 Moby Thesaurus words for "hot water":
   Dutch, Old Faithful, bind, boiling water, box, clutch,
   complication, corner, crunch, deep, embarrassing position,
   embarrassment, fine how-do-you-do, geyser, hell to pay, hobble,
   hot spring, how-do-you-do, imbroglio, jam, mess, mix, morass,
   parlous straits, pass, pickle, pinch, plight, predicament,
   pretty pass, pretty pickle, pretty predicament, quagmire,
   quicksand, scrape, slough, spot, squeeze, steam, stew,
   sticky wicket, strait, straits, swamp, thermae, tight spot,
   tight squeeze, tightrope, tricky spot, unholy mess, vapor