voice in the wilderness
1
8.8
- idiom
- Informal
:
voz en el desierto
- George Will was a voice in the wilderness; Rush Limbaugh an occasional (sometimes guilty) pleasure.
- a lone voice in the wilderness
He may not get it right all the time, but he is certainly a lone voice in the wilderness.
- He may not get it right all the time, but he is certainly a lone voice in the wilderness.
Examples
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Thanks to the few voices in the wilderness who clearly do understand.
Blog text (18) -
Brother, you're the voice in the wilderness.
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A voice in the wilderness.
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Turns out that crazy bitch... lady back there was just some sad, lonely voice in the wilderness.
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Yesterday, I had a conversation with someone who, like me, spent most of the Bush years as a voice in the wilderness.
Blog text (28) -
At another CAB meeting, a member stated the case eloquently: "We are a voice in the wilderness....
Academic text (2003) -
So I think that it's too much to expect journalists to be the lone voice in the wilderness that notices the bubble and calls it.
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In the beginning of the year, the former chief of the Israeli Mossad, Meir Dagan, was a lone voice in the wilderness.
Blog text (17) -
TM Lutas was a voice in the wilderness; however, shouting the real points that the Sean Hannitys of America were ducking:
Blog text (11) -
As a whistleblower, she felt like a voice in the wilderness when no one listened to her concerns about safety.
Synonyms
Trying to persuade people who will not listen
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
voice + in + the + wilderness
The literal parts ('voice' + 'in the wilderness') do hint at a solitary speaker in a remote place, so a learner can partly infer a sense of isolation. However, understanding that this specifically means a warning or opinion that is ignored requires a metaphorical extension of 'wilderness' to mean lack of audience or influence, which is not fully predictable for an average B1 learner.
Etymology
The phrase voice in the wilderness comes from the picture of a lone voice calling out across a wide, empty wilderness where no one can hear it. One popular story comes from the Bible about a lone messenger whose warnings were not heard, so today the phrase means 'a person or message that others ignore'.