shout fire in a crowded theater
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To say something that could cause panic or harm to others
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Nói điều gì đó có thể gây hoảng loạn hoặc hại người khác
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: yelling fire in a crowded room
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The politician was accused of shouting fire in a crowded theater with her misleading statement
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 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “shout fire in a crowded theater” mean?
To say something that could cause panic or harm to others Literally: yelling fire in a crowded room
Is “shout fire in a crowded theater” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.