blood in the water
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
A situation where someone is vulnerable to attack or criticism
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
tình huống mà ai đó dễ bị tấn công hoặc chỉ trích
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: blood visible in the surrounding water
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The scandal revealed blood in the water, and the media pounced on the story
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “blood in the water” mean?
A situation where someone is vulnerable to attack or criticism Literally: blood visible in the surrounding water
Is “blood in the water” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.