cry wolf

Idioms  

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.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cry wolf

A Cabinet Office report during trials in 2014 warned of this "cry wolf" effect, while pointing out there was strong support among the public for the alerts.

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

“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 ● Jun. 3, 2024

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 ● Mar. 12, 2024

“You can’t just kind of cry wolf all the time,” Dr. Allison Arwady, Chicago’s health commissioner, told The Times.

From New York Times ● Jul. 21, 2022

All he knew was that he felt very splendidly mad, with an uncontrollable desire to throw his body in the air, and cry wolf calls with his throat.

From Dusty Star by Olaf Baker