PoliticsJuly 14, 2026

whistleblowing

/ˈwɪsəlˌbloʊɪŋ/

Definition

The act of reporting illegal, unethical, or unsafe activities within an organization to authorities or the public by an employee.

Etymology

The term originates from the 19th-century practice of police officers using a whistle to alert the public or other officers to a crime. It evolved into its modern figurative sense in the 1970s to describe individuals exposing institutional wrongdoing.

In the news

The article uses the term to describe staff complaints regarding patient safety in the Critical Care Unit, noting that the Minister incorrectly dismissed these serious reports as mere personal grievances.

Ladislaus accuses Feetham of ‘knee-jerk politics’ over sex offender policy

Read the full article ↗

Gibraltar Chronicle

Related words

Learn a word like this every day

Meet one new word every morning.

Newspoken pulls one carefully chosen word from the day’s news — with a clear definition, context, and light review that makes it stick. Get it on your phone.

Not for marketing. One email on launch day.