For years she was a voice crying in the wilderness about the safety flaw.
a voice crying in the wilderness
idiomA lone warning or opinion that goes unheeded by everyone around it.
Origin
The phrase originates in Isaiah 40:3 — the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord — and the Gospels, at Matthew 3:3, apply it to John the Baptist, who preached repentance in the desert ahead of Jesus.
The image is of a solitary figure proclaiming an urgent message in an empty place, far from the crowds who most need to hear it, and the popular reading emphasises that isolation: a truth-teller with no audience.
In English a voice crying in the wilderness is someone whose warning or dissent is ignored — a lone, often prophetic figure saying something important that nobody, at least for now, is willing to listen to.
The lone economist warning of the crash was a voice crying in the wilderness until, one morning, the markets proved him right.
For a decade the old engineer had been a voice crying in the wilderness, filing report after ignored report about the ageing bridge, and when it finally closed for emergency repairs, everyone suddenly remembered that someone had been trying to tell them all along.
The rise and fall of kings and the warnings of the prophets.
- 01
David and Goliath (idiom)
A contest in which a much weaker underdog faces a far stronger opponent.
- 02
the writing on the wall (idiom)
A clear sign that something, especially failure or disaster, is on its way.
- 03
feet of clay (idiom)
In someone apparently strong and without failings, a hidden weakness which could lead to downfall.
- 04
a drop in the bucket (idiom)
A quantity so small it is negligible next to what is actually needed.
- 05
a leopard cannot change its spots (idiom)
People rarely change their fundamental nature, however much they may seem to.
- 06
how the mighty have fallen (idiom)
A remark on the dramatic downfall of someone once powerful or admired.