Idiom
miners' canary
Meaning
Any thing, especially an organism, whose demise or distress provides an early warning of danger.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“The wilting plants act as a miners' canary for the dry soil.”
“The sudden drop in local bee populations served as a miners' canary for the environmental health of the entire valley.”
“Economic analysts often view the decline in luxury spending as a miners' canary, signaling a broader and more severe recession on the horizon.”
Examples
simple
“The wilting plants act as a miners' canary for the dry soil.”
contextual
“The sudden drop in local bee populations served as a miners' canary for the environmental health of the entire valley.”
complex
“Economic analysts often view the decline in luxury spending as a miners' canary, signaling a broader and more severe recession on the horizon.”
Key words
Related idioms
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