reopen old wounds

idiom

: to cause people to think of things from the past that make them sad, angry, etc.
Telling that story will only reopen old wounds.

Examples of reopen old wounds in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Suzanne Hurt, a communications specialist for the city, declined to comment, citing concerns that doing so could reopen old wounds. Will Lanzoni, CNN Money, 23 Sep. 2023 Conservatives, in particular, have argued that exhumations would only reopen old wounds. Constant Méheut Samuel Aranda, New York Times, 18 July 2023 Is the issue really what these people did, though, or did the incident somehow reopen old wounds? Tarot Astrologers, chicagotribune.com, 4 July 2021 The extra payment to Mr. Neumann could reopen old wounds with WeWork employees and investors, who were furious when the $185 million payout became public. Eliot Brown, WSJ, 25 Feb. 2021 The pictures from the ongoing protests are reminiscent of those from the 1960s and the atrocities reopen old wounds that likely have never fully healed. Aderonke Oguntoye, Essence, 9 June 2020

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

Dictionary Entries Near reopen old wounds

Cite this Entry

“Reopen old wounds.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reopen%20old%20wounds. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

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