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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But during more than an hour of oral arguments Tuesday, some conservative justices expressed concern that allowing that interpretation would open the floodgates to types of lawsuits the law wasn’t intended to cover. —

Maureen Groppe, USA TODAY, 15 Oct. 2024 Tracking New And Evolving Threat Vectors The tech landscape has never been more innovative—for example, the proliferation of generative AI applications—but new tools can also open the floodgates for novel and evolving threats to people and organizations. —

Sean Brady, Forbes, 26 Sep. 2024 Does this open the floodgates for more crypto ETFs? —

Bob Pisani, CNBC, 23 July 2024 That’s because temperature isn’t the only sweat trigger; the stress hormone adrenaline can also open the floodgates. —

Sarah Everts, TIME, 16 July 2024 See all Example Sentences for open the floodgates

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“Open the floodgates.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/open%20the%20floodgates. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.

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