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Glite Dictionary
to shout fire

to shout fire

8.2
To cry 'fire' when there is none to make people panic
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : gritar fuego
  • During the movie, someone falsely shouted fire, leading to an unnecessary stampede toward the exits.

Examples

  • "Falsely shouting fire in a theatre" is an example illustrating Holmes' point.

    Blog text (30)

  • The exact quote is: "The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic."

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  • Everyone knows the fatuous verdict of the greatly over-praised Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, who, when asked for an actual example of when it would be proper to limit speech or define it as an action, gave that of shouting "fire" in a crowded theatre.

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  • In fact, it could be just as plausibly argued that the Yiddish-speaking socialists who were jailed by the excellent and greatly over-praised Judge Oliver Wendell Holmes were the real firefighters, the ones shouting fire when there really was a fire in a very crowded theatre indeed.

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  • It's illegal to shout fire in a crowded place when there is no fire, as it can cause panic.

  • He was arrested for shouting fire in the theater where no flames existed, which alarmed many people.

Synonyms

to cry wolf
vsto shout fire
12 5.8

To say there is danger when there is none so people stop believing you

creates a single false alarm that causes immediate panic
to cry
vsto shout fire
  • Archaic
11 8.2

To call out loud in public to tell news or sell things

creates a false warning intended to cause panic

Antonyms

to calm
962 1.0

Make a person or animal less upset

to reassure
163 3.4

To make someone feel less worried and more confident

How Alarming

to terrify
148 3.2
to shout fire
8.2
to alarm
133 1.9
to warn
∞ 1.0
to mention
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

shout fire infinitive
shouted fire past
shouted fire past participle
shouting fire present participle
shouts fire third person singular

Morphology

shout + fire

The literal action — to call out the word 'fire' — is directly compositional from 'shout' + 'fire', so a B1 learner who knows both words will understand someone is vocally announcing fire. However, the conventionalized pragmatic sense in contexts like "Don't shout fire in a crowded theater" (i.e. making a false alarm or causing unnecessary panic) is a pragmatic extension not fully predictable from the constituents alone, so it is only partially transparent.

Etymology

The phrase shout fire comes from the simple image of someone loudly shouting fire in a crowded room, which makes people run and cause 'panic'. That's why it now means 'to give a false warning' or 'to cause unnecessary alarm'.