whistleblowing

nounC1Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechToo rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Whistleblowing is reporting wrongdoing inside your own organisation. Whistleblowing policy, protected whistleblowing, a whistleblowing hotline.

British law protects it where the disclosure is in the public interest, and the protection is why the word matters legally rather than merely morally. The cost to the person is usually their career whatever the law says.

Definitions of whistleblowing

1nounwhistleblowingReporting wrongdoing inside your own organisation.C1
“His whistleblowing revealed that the company had been dumping waste into the river.”

whistleblowing is a reporting.

Where it comes from

Whistle plus blowing, from the image of blowing a whistle to stop play or raise an alarm.

From whistle + blowing.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

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