fishing expedition
Trip seeking catches
A fishing expedition is a search without a specific target, hoping to find something useful or incriminating.
The term is often pejorative, suggesting overreach: The lawsuit was dismissed as a fishing expedition.
Prosecutors launch fishing expeditions when they lack evidence; lawyers use the term to protest broad discovery requests.
The metaphor comes from casting a wide net to see what turns up.
Persecution of supposed subversives
- diggingRemoving earth below
- snoopingSecretly investigating others
- inquiryRequest for information
- scrutinyClose, careful examination
surveillance · probing · grilling · cross-examination · interrogation · fact-finding · sleuthing · prying
witch-hunt
Persecution of supposed subversives
scrutiny · surveillance · probing · grilling · cross-examination · interrogation · fact-finding · sleuthing · prying · vetting
- seafaringship, sailors, ships, sail, sailor
- fishing idiomshook line and sinker, fish out of water, the one that got away, fish or cut bait, bigger fish to fry
- sailing tripsisland hopping, coastal cruise, Atlantic crossing, Mediterranean cruise, bareboat charter
- ExpeditionsArctic exploration, ocean exploration, Lewis and Clark, Endurance, Marco Polo
- sea voyagesvoyage, sea voyages, crossing, ocean voyages, sea voyage
fishing, fished, fishes, fisher, fishery, fisheries, fisherman, fishermen, expedition