cries wolf
Raises fake alerts
To cry wolf is to raise a false alarm, from Aesop's fable about a shepherd boy who falsely cried "Wolf!" so often that when a wolf actually appeared, no one believed him.
Someone who cries wolf repeatedly loses credibility: After she cried wolf about deadlines three times, management stopped taking her seriously.
- cryVocal expression of emotion
- little boyYoung male child
- cautionary taleStory illustrating consequences
- fool me onceOpening of repeated-deception proverb
- AesopAncient Greek fable writer
hoax · doubt · bluff · unreliability · lost credibility · skepticism · discrediting · fabrication · distrust · idiom · ostracism · ridicule · dismissal · fable · tall tale · shepherd · exaggeration · backlash
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