air (one's) grievances

air (one's) grievances

To express one's dissatisfaction. The employees used the meeting to air their grievances about their salaries and working conditions.

See also: air, grievance

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

air one's grievances

Fig. to complain; to make a public complaint. I know how you feel, John, but it isn't necessary to air your grievances over and over.

See also: air, grievance

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

air one's grievances

Complain publicly, as in Jane was afraid to complain at work but freely aired her grievances at home. This figurative exposure to the open air is far from new; to air one's opinions or ideas dates from the early 1800s, and the precise idiom appears in James Joyce's Ulysses (1922).

See also: air, grievance

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.