fishing expedition

noun

|Updated on: 14 Aug 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

Hemingway would be done with his 500 words or so a day by late morning, when many guests were just getting up, and already planning a fishing expedition or a jaunt into town, or other activity.

— patrick j. mcdonnell, latimes.com, "Preservation effort makes Hemingway's Cuba home look like he never left," 30 May 2018
Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller is potentially in hot water after a social media post displayed pictures of him posing with a bloody hammerhead shark that was caught on a fishing expedition off the coast of Miami.

— BostonGlobe.com, "Rhode Island promotes David Cox to men’s basketball coach," 5 Apr. 2018
Parasailing, jet skiing, snorkel tours, sunset sails and fishing expeditions are available for a price.

— lizette alvarez, New York Times, "The Cheeca Lodge Is Back, Tiki Bar and All," 23 June 2018
In essence, the investigation was a fishing expedition, in which Weinberg posed as the representative of a wealthy, unscrupulous sheikh aiming to do business in the United States.

— harrison smith, latimes.com, "Mel Weinberg, con artist at center of Abscam sting that landed U.S. politicians in prison, dies at 93," 9 June 2018
Paul Manafort’s lawyers adopted a version of the Trumpian defense, that the Mueller probe is a fishing expedition for unrelated crimes.

— jonathan chait, Daily Intelligencer, "Trump Says There’s No Evidence of Collusion. There Is So Much Evidence Already.," 1 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
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

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.

First Known Use of fishing expedition

1874

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

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