twist in the wind

Be abandoned to a bad situation, especially be left to incur blame, as in The governor denied knowing it was illegal and left his aide to twist in the wind. It is also put as leave twisting in the wind, meaning “abandon or strand in a difficult situation,” as in Sensing a public relations disaster, the President left the Vice-President twisting in the wind. This expression, at first applied to a President's nominees who faced opposition and were abandoned by the President, alludes to the corpse of a hanged man left dangling and twisting in the open air. [Slang; early 1970s] Also see out on a limb.

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Example Sentences

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Winning the culture war doesn’t mean cutting off left-wing nonprofits and academics and letting them twist in the wind.

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Namely, how inconsiderate it looks having coaches twist in the wind, uncertain about fates.

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"That sort of status quo, of letting the Biden administration twist in the wind, is exactly what the Trump campaign wants. They want more B-roll of chaos during the campaign."

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Soccer’s youth development programs, but the boys were folded into MLS Next while the girls “were left to twist in the wind,” Gallimore said.

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“I think some outlets willfully held back calls that they probably could have made to watch us twist in the wind,” he said.

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twisting twist someone's arm

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