fishing expedition

American  

noun

Informal.

1. a legal proceeding mainly for the purpose of interrogating a suspect, or of examining their property and documents, in order to gain useful information.

2. any inquiry carried on without any clearly defined plan or purpose in the hope of discovering useful information.

---

fishing expedition Idioms  

1. An attempt to find useful information by asking questions at random. For example, The sales force was told to go on a fishing expedition to find out what they could about the company's competitors. This expression was taken up by lawyers to describe interrogating an adversary in hopes of finding relevant evidence and is now used more broadly still. [c. 1930]

---

Etymology

Origin of fishing expedition

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

To appreciate fully the outrageousness of this fishing expedition, remember the original setting for the Smith probe.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 30, 2025

That is the short story of how plane ticketing became a fishing expedition and basic economy the bait.

From Slate • Oct. 9, 2025

But the subpoena was dropped after Swift's legal team objected that the legal order amounted to an "unwarranted fishing expedition", Variety said.

From BBC • May 23, 2025

“It’s now been more or less a four-month fishing expedition and I don’t think you’ve caught any fish,” Reznik said.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 22, 2024

He had not seen Ramon since the day recently when he had suggested a fishing expedition and been told that Ramon was not well.

From "Messenger" by Lois Lowry