to fishing in troubled waters
- idiom
- Informal
:
sacar ventaja de la confusión
- In a bidding war, many competitors are known to fishing in troubled waters by spreading rumors about each other's offers.
Examples
-
The politician might fishing in troubled waters by making promises to constituents during the economic crisis.
-
Among those who may fish in troubled waters in the years ahead will be former Communist Party members.
Academic text (1992) -
During the chaos of the protest, some businesses began fishing in troubled waters to take advantage of distracted customers.
Synonyms
1
7.7
Use clever or dishonest moves to get an advantage
Try to get something from people when they are in trouble in a greedy way
Antonyms
How Opportunistic
75
7.8
214
5.6
- Informal
465
2.5
10
3.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase pairs the literal image of 'fishing' (seeking/catching) with 'troubled waters' (a chaotic or dangerous situation), so its metaphorical sense of trying to gain advantage in a crisis is inferable from the parts. However, the exploitation nuance is idiomatic and relies on a figurative mapping that some B1 learners may not fully predict without exposure, even though similar expressions exist in other languages.
Etymology
The idiom fishing in troubled waters may come from the image of someone fishing in rough, muddy troubled waters where the fish are confused and easy to catch. That's why it now means 'to try to gain an advantage or benefit from a difficult or messy situation'.