Idiom
smell blood
Meaning
To sense that one has an advantage over an adversary or rival.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“The team smelled blood when their opponent started making mistakes.”
“After the senator stumbled during the debate, her rival smelled blood and pushed harder on the difficult questions.”
“Sensing that the market leader was vulnerable after the scandal, the smaller firm smelled blood and launched an aggressive campaign to capture their customers.”
Examples
simple
“The team smelled blood when their opponent started making mistakes.”
contextual
“After the senator stumbled during the debate, her rival smelled blood and pushed harder on the difficult questions.”
complex
“Sensing that the market leader was vulnerable after the scandal, the smaller firm smelled blood and launched an aggressive campaign to capture their customers.”
Key words
Related idioms
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