Word.ws English Dictionary

opening the floodgates

opening the floodgates is the present participle and gerund 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 opening the floodgates

What is opening the floodgates the present participle and gerund of?
Opening the floodgates is the present participle and gerund of open the floodgates.

Words near opening the floodgates in the dictionary

  1. opening statement
  2. opening statements
  3. opening the ball
  4. opening the batting
  5. opening the door
  6. opening the floodgates
  7. opening the kimono
  8. opening the range
  9. opening time
  10. opening times
  11. opening titles

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: opening 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.

Last updated:

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