open the floodgates

idiom

: to remove something serving to restrain an outburst

Many people fear that the court's latest ruling will open the floodgates for/to a host of new lawsuits.

Examples of open the floodgates in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Tracking New And Evolving Threat Vectors The tech landscape has never been more innovative—for example, the proliferation of generative AI applications—but new tools can also open the floodgates for novel and evolving threats to people and organizations. —

Sean Brady, Forbes, 26 Sep. 2024 Does this open the floodgates for more crypto ETFs? —

Bob Pisani, CNBC, 23 July 2024 That’s because temperature isn’t the only sweat trigger; the stress hormone adrenaline can also open the floodgates. —

Sarah Everts, TIME, 16 July 2024 Ukrainian officials may hope that Washington will open the floodgates, alleviating their material constraints. —

Keith L. Carter, Foreign Affairs, 29 May 2024 See all Example Sentences for open the floodgates

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'open the floodgates.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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“Open the floodgates.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/open%20the%20floodgates. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

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