name names en · VERB
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Meanings
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(idiomatic) To identify specific people, especially people involved in misdeeds or other secretive activity.
Sometimes it is not the journalist who is in peril but the subject of a story, and naming names can leave both the reporter and the reader uneasy.
2008 May 18, Clark Hoyt, “Journalism From the Bottom of the Boat”, in New York Times, retrieved 16 Jun 2011:They named names—names which I shall not record here.
1918, Henry B[lake] Fuller, On the Stairs, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Hougton Mifflin Company; Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside Press, →OCLC, part V, section III, page 164:He named names; the whole gang was rounded up, and all were sentenced to two years in reform school.
1953 May 25, “West Germany: Panthers in the Streets”, in Time:"Pr'ythee, peace, man," said Avenel; "what need of naming names, so we understand each other? [...]"
1820 March, [Walter Scott], chapter X, in The Monastery. A Romance. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Co., and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, page 307:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| naming names | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| names names | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| named names | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| named names | Tense=Past | lexicographic |
Relateds
Synonyms
inform · snitch · fizgig · snitch · squeak · dob · clepe · blow the whistle · tell all · squeal · lolly up · turn in · tell · roll on · rat out · dime out · sing · tattle · bewray · name names · rat on · inform · drop a dime · peach · grass on · snitch up · denounce · fink · grass up · finger · tip off · tell on · tell tales · grass up · inform on · dime · drop a dime on someone · nark
Translations (9)
hu nevesíti/megnevezi az érintetteket (identify specific people) · fr citer des noms (identify specific people) · de Namen nennen (identify specific people) · fi nimetä (identify specific people) · de Ross und Reiter nennen (identify specific people) · pl podać nazwiska (identify specific people) · pl podawać nazwiska (identify specific people) · sv inga namn nämnda (identify specific people) · hu neveket említ (identify specific people)