name and shame
1. verb phrase To publicly name or otherwise identify a person, group, or organization that is guilty of some criminal or anti-social act so as to expose him, her, or them to public shame. The federal agency's plan—to name and shame local criminals across the country with a published list of their names and convictions—is being branded by some advocacy groups as a violation of privacy.
2. noun phrase The act of exposing a culpable person, group, or organization to public shame. Look, I'm just as upset as anyone, but I'm not willing to take part in some name and shame against everyone in the neighborhood!
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name and shame
If something such as a newspaper or an official organization names and shames people or companies who have performed badly or who have done something wrong, it tells people their names. The government will name and shame the worst performing airlines.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
name and shame
identify wrongdoers by name with the intention of embarrassing them into improving their behaviour. 1998 New Scientist I'm all for naming and shaming, as this is worth many times more than fines.
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