whistleblower

noun

whis·​tle·​blow·​er ˈ(h)wi-səl-ˌblō-ər 

variants or whistle-blower

plural whistleblowers or whistle-blowers

: one who reveals something covert or who informs against another

especially : an employee who brings wrongdoing by an employer or by other employees to the attention of a government or law enforcement agency

Note: A whistleblower is commonly protected legally from retaliation.

I think whistleblowers play a hugely important role in countering the worst corporate and government excesses.

—Damon Poeter

… pledges to protect whistle-blowers who fear reprisals for their efforts.

—Wall Street Journal

Congress also added significant new protection for whistleblowers. The 1986 act provides remedies including reinstatement, back-pay with interest, and, as appropriate, punitive damages for whistleblowers who are discharged, demoted, or discriminated against due to involvement with a False Claims disclosure.

—Bradford A. Penney

whistleblowing

ˈ(h)wi-səl-ˌblō-iŋ 

adjective

or whistle-blowing

a whistleblowing report

Many states have already enacted laws that protect whistle-blowing employees from retaliation.

—Greg Critser

whistleblowing noun

or whistle-blowing

… a National Security Agency agent who got in trouble for whistle-blowing.

—Renée Camus

Examples of whistleblower in a Sentence

There are laws to protect whistleblowers who reveal corporate malfeasance.

Recent Examples on the Web

An inspector general’s report on her alleged misconduct was forthcoming before The New York Post first exposed a whistleblower’s complaint about alleged drinking during office hours, creating a hostile work environment and an affair with a security guard. —Peter Lucas, Boston Herald, 25 Apr. 2026

Out back, on a stately patio above a sprawling garden overlooking the Potomac, Kalshi's Tarek Mansour snaps a selfie with John Kiriakou, the former CIA whistleblower who Gen Z has recently made viral on TikTok. —Clara Molot, Vanity Fair, 25 Apr. 2026

The department paid nearly $3 million to former employees since 2019 to settle accusations of pay, age, gender and disability discrimination, whistleblower protection violations, and retaliatory firings. —Katie Langford, Denver Post, 24 Apr. 2026

The protection of sources gains special importance in the case of whistleblowers, in which investigative reporters and sources collaborate to reveal abuses of power. —Florian Wintterlin, Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1906, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for whistleblower

• blower
• goer
• grower
• knower
• lower
• mower
• rower
• slower
• sower
• thrower

Legal Definition

whistleblower

noun

whis·​tle·​blow·​er

ˈhwi-səl-ˌblō-ər

: an employee who brings wrongdoing by an employer or other employees to the attention of a government or law enforcement agency and who is commonly vested by statute with rights and remedies for retaliation compare qui tam action

whistleblowing

-iŋ

noun