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
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Documents like passports and driver’s licenses are key to verifying a person’s identity and manipulated IDs open the floodgates for criminals to commit financial, insurance and medical fraud.
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Rashi Shrivastava, Forbes.com, 15 Apr. 2025
But Yearwood said overruling the jury’s decision would open the floodgates for other felons and threaten the integrity of other lawful convictions.
—Kerry Burke, New York Daily News, 12 May 2025
That would open the floodgates to religious charter schools in forty-seven states whose laws now prohibit them, with the inevitable accompaniment of hard questions.
—Ruth Marcus, New Yorker, 5 May 2025
Despite sympathy for the plaintiffs, many of the justices appeared wary of a broad ruling that might open the floodgates to litigation against the government.
—Devin Dwyer, ABC News, 29 Apr. 2025
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Rashi Shrivastava, Forbes.com, 15 Apr. 2025
But Yearwood said overruling the jury’s decision would open the floodgates for other felons and threaten the integrity of other lawful convictions.
—Kerry Burke, New York Daily News, 12 May 2025
That would open the floodgates to religious charter schools in forty-seven states whose laws now prohibit them, with the inevitable accompaniment of hard questions.
—Ruth Marcus, New Yorker, 5 May 2025
Despite sympathy for the plaintiffs, many of the justices appeared wary of a broad ruling that might open the floodgates to litigation against the government.
—Devin Dwyer, ABC News, 29 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for open the floodgates
Cite this Entry
“Open the floodgates.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/open%20the%20floodgates. Accessed 19 Jul. 2025.
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