Word.ws English Dictionary

opened the floodgates

opened the floodgates is the simple past and past participle of open the floodgates.

Meaning of open the floodgates

Verb

open the floodgates (third-person singular simple present opens the floodgates, present participle opening the floodgates, simple past and past participle opened the floodgates)

  1. (idiomatic) To allow some action to proceed more swiftly or to a greater extent.
    • Where we open up the floodgates, freedom reigns supreme.
      Fire on the hemisphere below.1987 September 1, R.E.M., “Welcome to the Occupation”, in Document

Questions about opened the floodgates

What is opened the floodgates the simple past and past participle of?
Opened the floodgates is the simple past and past participle of open the floodgates.

Words near opened the floodgates in the dictionary

  1. opened Pandora's box
  2. opened someone's eyes
  3. opened the ball
  4. opened the batting
  5. opened the door
  6. opened the floodgates
  7. opened the kimono
  8. opened the range
  9. opened up
  10. opened up a can of whoop ass
  11. opened up a can of whoop-ass

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: opened the floodgates (page history and authors); open the floodgates (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “opened the floodgates.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/opened_the_floodgates. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.