blow the whistle on
Idioms-
Expose corruption or other wrongdoing, as in The President's speech blew the whistle on the opposition's leaking information . [ Colloquial ; 1930s]
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Put a stop to, as in The registry decided to blow the whistle on new vanity plates . The term originally alluded to ending an activity (such as factory work) with the blast of a whistle. [Late 1800s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Under Greenspan’s watch, the Fed didn’t blow the whistle on riskier lending practices in which Wall Street used financial alchemy to turn dodgy mortgages into highly rated securities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
Instead, eight months later, Smith filed his own lawsuit against the city, alleging he faced retaliation for trying to blow the whistle on a range of misconduct within the LAPD.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2025
Judges are loath to blow the whistle on colleagues and have historically taken the position “Not my chambers, not my business.”
From Slate ● Jul. 29, 2024
In the memoir “README.txt,” Chelsea Manning tells her life story and explains her decision to blow the whistle on U.S. actions in the Middle East.
From New York Times ● Oct. 20, 2022
“I would have never guessed,” Stockdale would say many years later, “that commodores in charge on the scene of action are sometimes not allowed to blow the whistle on a screwup.”
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
