blow the lid off

Idioms  

1. Also, blow wide open. Expose, especially a scandal or illegal activity. For example, The newspaper's investigation blew the lid off the governor's awarding state contracts to his friends. [First half of 1900s]

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Example Sentences

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blow the lid off

The cast also features Colman Domingo as a whistleblower trying to blow the lid off an alien coverup.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026

Compared to other true-crime docs, “Beyond Human Nature” doesn’t blow the lid off a huge conspiracy or untangle a complicated mystery.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 2, 2023

Today we are going to blow the lid off a debate that raged in America’s newspapers at the turn of the 20th century.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 4, 2021

So as two women, the one thing we did know was that if we wanted to blow the lid off the news, it had to look like the news.

From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2021

Percy concentrated until his ears popped, but the best he could do was blow the lid off the plastic treasure chest.

From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan