Word.ws English Dictionary

the genie is out of the bottle

the genie is out of the bottle phrase: information has been released that will have ongoing consequences.

the genie is out of the bottle: information has been released that will have ongoing consequences
Image: Post of Ajman, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Phrase

the genie is out of the bottle

  1. (idiomatic) Information has been released that will have ongoing consequences.
    • It's been widely rumored the network was planning to cancel the show, but now the genie is out of the bottle and fans are furious.
    • This early flawed statement was rapidly updated with entirely accurate information, but it was too late - the genie was out of the bottle.2021 November 17, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Salisbury: a media own goal”, in RAIL, number 944, page 3
  2. (idiomatic) Something has been brought into reality that cannot be eliminated or undone.
    • I don't think there's any hope of repealing this city's silly parking bylaw. The genie is out of the bottle, sadly.
    • “The foundations of the concerns about digital platforms were developing during the Obama years […]” said Chris Lewis, the president of the consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge. “The genie is out of the bottle and the issues the public needs resolved are piling up without resolution.”2020 November 10, Cecilia Kang, David McCabe, Jack Nicas, “Biden Is Expected to Keep Scrutiny of Tech Front and Center”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 07 Jan 2021

Synonyms of the genie is out of the bottle

Forms of the genie is out of the bottle

alternative formthe genie's out of the bottle

Questions about the genie is out of the bottle

What does the genie is out of the bottle mean?
The genie is out of the bottle means information has been released that will have ongoing consequences.
What part of speech is the genie is out of the bottle?
The genie is out of the bottle is a phrase.

Words near the genie is out of the bottle in the dictionary

  1. The Game
  2. the game is not worth the candle
  3. the game is up
  4. The Gap
  5. The Gardens
  6. the genie is out of the bottle
  7. the genie's out of the bottle
  8. the ghost walks
  9. the girls are fighting
  10. The Glen
  11. the gods smile on someone

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: the genie is out of the bottle (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:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-genie is out of the bottle.ogg.

Cite this entry: “the genie is out of the bottle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/the_genie_is_out_of_the_bottle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.