fishing expedition
9
6.5
- noun
- /ˈfɪʃɪŋ ˌɛkspəˈdɪʃən/
- Informal
:
investigación sin fundamento
- This is a fishing expedition.
- go on a fishing expedition
- just a fishing expedition
- sort of fishing expedition
Examples
-
The defense team also submitted its response to a filing by the state, which referred to the requests for Trayvon's school records as a "fishing expedition."
Blog text (1) -
It was a fishing expedition.
-
That was a fishing expedition, Doctor.
-
This meditation was more of a fishing expedition than a shooting exercise.
Blog text (25) -
Instead, he announced the results of our little Covent Garden fishing expedition.
Fiction book (1990) -
Instead of going on a fishing expedition, all he would have had to do was go to crimemapping.com.
Blog text (16) -
Perhaps it's a clever fishing expedition, although for what I have a hard time imagining.
Blog text (2) -
Holmes' defense team says looking into the suspect's education records is a "fishing expedition," and that any motive is irrelevant.
Blog text (20) -
Stephanie Weiner and Joe Iosbaker announced during an October 5 news conference in Chicago that they and other subpoenaed activists would not cooperate with the FBI "fishing expedition."
Blog text (18) -
The lawyer argued that the investigation was merely a fishing expedition without real evidence.
Synonyms
∞
2.9
A careful search for the truth about something
∞
1.0
An act of looking for something or someone
190
2.1
A careful search for something or someone
150
5.5
An official investigation into suspected wrongdoing or serious problems
26
3.4
A careful search to find information and solve a crime or mystery
19
3.9
Sent to find out what happened and gather information
8
6.9
Looking into crime or suspicious events like a detective
How Speculative
- Literature
85
7.7
- Informal
9
6.5
- Literature
35
5.1
245
3.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase uses a clear metaphor: 'fishing' suggests searching or trying to catch something and 'expedition' denotes an organized journey, so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to a search. However, the specific nuance—an indiscriminate or evidence-free investigation (often with a negative/pejorative sense)—is a pragmatic/idiomatic extension that a B1 learner may not fully predict, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Fishing expedition comes from the image of going out on a fishing trip or expedition without a clear target, trying many spots and hoping to catch something by chance. So it now means an investigation that searches widely, often 'in the hope of finding useful or damaging information'.