blowing the whistle
Reporting hidden misconduct
Blowing the whistle is reporting wrongdoing, especially by an insider exposing misconduct within an organization: She blew the whistle on the company's fraudulent accounting practices.
The image comes from a referee's whistle stopping play when rules are broken.
Someone who does this is a whistleblower.
The act can be heroic or treacherous depending on perspective—celebrated as courage or condemned as betrayal.
- informantOne who provides intelligence
- deep throatComplete oral insertion
- anonymous tipInformation from unnamed source
- revealMake something visible
- exposeMake known publicly
going public · disclose · alert · retaliation · leak · courage · moral duty · signal · reporting · vindication · cover-up · ethics · accountability · justice · misconduct · transparency · public interest · integrity
blowing the whistlecovering up
Hiding wrongdoing from others
concealing · hiding · suppressing · burying · hushing up
blowing the whistleclosing ranks
looking the other way · omertà · turning a blind eye · toeing the line · circling the wagons
blowing the whistlekeeping mum
Staying deliberately silent
saying nothing · turning a blind eye · looking the other way · standing by · doing nothing
blowing, blown, blows, blower, whistle, whistles, whistled, whistling, whistler