View synonyms for

fishing expedition

noun

Informal.

a legal proceeding mainly for the purpose of interrogating a suspect, or of examining their property and documents, in order to gain useful information.
any inquiry carried on without any clearly defined plan or purpose in the hope of discovering useful information.

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Word History and Origins

Origin of fishing expedition¹

First recorded in 1960–65

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Idioms and Phrases

An attempt to find useful information by asking questions at random. For example, The sales force was told to go on a fishing expedition to find out what they could about the company's competitors. This expression was taken up by lawyers to describe interrogating an adversary in hopes of finding relevant evidence and is now used more broadly still. [c. 1930]

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

The subpoena was dropped about two weeks later, after Swift's legal team objected that the legal order amounted to an "unwarranted fishing expedition", Variety said.

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But the subpoena was dropped after Swift's legal team objected that the legal order amounted to an "unwarranted fishing expedition", Variety said.

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Investigating Harvard is less about the money it may have obtained from the federal government and more a fishing expedition about the university’s admissions process and its use of diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

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“I think they sent him off on this fishing expedition to get something on me after the primary election in 2018,” Spitzer said in a deposition.

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Vaughan Gething first responded the next day, claiming the request was a "fishing expedition" and that his constituents would expect correspondence on their behalf by an elected representative to remain confidential.

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fishing banks fishing ground

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