fishing expedition

noun

|Updated on: 19 Jun 2018

Definition of fishing expedition

1 : a legal interrogation or examination to discover information for a later proceeding

2 : an investigation that does not stick to a stated objective but hopes to uncover incriminating or newsworthy evidence

Recent Examples of fishing expedition from the Web

Not content to keep the bafflement in-house, or perhaps as a fishing expedition, the folks at NASA presented the photo to the space-curious public.

— author: cleve r. wootson jr., Anchorage Daily News, "NASA baffled by mysterious ice circles in the Arctic," 24 Apr. 2018
Guide Dave Burns of The Golden Gillie can tailor your fishing expedition to your experience level, and will get even newbies catching fish in no time.

— Sunset, "5 Reasons Golden, B.C. Is a Summertime Must," 22 Jan. 2018
Not content to keep the bafflement in-house, or perhaps as a fishing expedition, the folks at NASA presented the photo to the space-curious public.

— author: cleve r. wootson jr., Anchorage Daily News, "NASA baffled by mysterious ice circles in the Arctic," 24 Apr. 2018
Michelson said the question was irrelevant to the case, and instructed Paterson to be more precise, rather than go off on fishing expeditions.

— joe guillen, Detroit Free Press, "Questions on FBI dropped for Detroit council president's deposition," 14 May 2018
Not content to keep the bafflement in-house, or perhaps as a fishing expedition, the folks at NASA presented the photo to the space-curious public.

— author: cleve r. wootson jr., Anchorage Daily News, "NASA baffled by mysterious ice circles in the Arctic," 24 Apr. 2018
Not content to keep the bafflement in-house, or perhaps as a fishing expedition, the folks at NASA presented the photo to the space-curious public.

— author: cleve r. wootson jr., Anchorage Daily News, "NASA baffled by mysterious ice circles in the Arctic," 24 Apr. 2018
Not content to keep the bafflement in-house, or perhaps as a fishing expedition, the folks at NASA presented the photo to the space-curious public.

— the washington post, NOLA.com, "NASA baffled by mysterious ice circles in the Arctic," 23 Apr. 2018
But first, was the raid on Trump's personal attorney just a proxy move by Mueller in his fishing expedition?

— Fox News, "Laura Ingraham announces new segment 'Defending the First'," 14 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'fishing expedition.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.