named names
Betrayed fellow conspirators
Named names means identified specific individuals, especially when doing so exposes them to consequences.
The phrase usually appears in contexts of betrayal or confession—informants who named names before congressional committees, witnesses who named names to investigators.
To name names is to move from vague accusation to specific identification, often implicating others in wrongdoing.
- renamedGiven a new designation
- labelingAssigning identifying markers
- whistleblowingExposing hidden wrongdoing internally
- witness standPlace for giving testimony
- friendly witnessTestifier aiding questioning attorney
exposure · accountability · defamation · outing · confession · designation · unveiling · blacklist · rat out · stigma · transparency · McCarthyism · Red Scare · revelation · announcement · betrayal · titling · disclosure
named nameskept quiet
said nothing · clammed up · stonewalled · pleaded the Fifth · kept one's mouth shut
name, named, names, naming, nameless, namely, namesake, nominate, nomination