cry wolf

1. Raise a false alarm, as in Helen's always crying wolf about attempted break-ins, but the police can never find any evidence. This term comes from the tale about a young shepherd watching his flock who, lonely and fearful, called for help by shouting “Wolf!” After people came to his aid several times and saw no wolf, they ignored his cries when a wolf actually attacked his sheep. The tale appeared in a translation of Aesop's fables by Roger L'Estrange (1692), and the expression has been applied to any false alarm since the mid-1800s.

Example Sentences

After the deadly Fourth of July floods in Texas, for example, the Kerrville city manager said that authorities were reluctant to “cry wolf” and order evacuations.

From Slate

He added: “It’s very tough to make those calls. Because what we also don’t want to do is cry wolf.”

From Los Angeles Times

“The challenge is always, you don’t want to cry wolf too soon, but you certainly don’t want to wait until the wolf’s eating you, either,” he said of declaring a drought.

From Los Angeles Times

At the same time, to cry wolf — to misuse the term to try to intimidate people into silence while Israel’s atrocities continue in Gaza — is an abuse of the word antisemitism and a disservice to everyone who strives for a single standard of human rights — like the17 rabbis and rabbinical students who went to Capitol Hill last week urging a ceasefire and an end to the unconditional U.S. military aid to Israel.

From Salon

That sort of description typically makes me urp; too many critics serve it up every week or two and they cry wolf, or masterwork, or not-to-be-missed too often to be trusted.

From Seattle Times