lightning rod

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lightning rod

Something or someone that becomes the focus of others' criticism or blame. Primarily heard in US. The CEO became a lightning rod for criticism when his company laid off a third of its employees.

a lightning rod for something

mainly AMERICAN

If someone is a lightning rod for something such as anger or criticism, they are the person who is naturally blamed or criticized by people, although there are other people who are responsible. She has become a lightning rod for criticism of the administration. He told the Palermo court he was an innocent lightning rod for Italy's many crime problems. Note: You can also just call someone a lightning rod. She was the party's chief manager, star campaigner and also its lightning rod. Note: A lightning rod is a long metal strip, one end of which is fixed on the roof of a building, with the other end in the ground to protect the building from being damaged by lightning.

See also: for, lightning, rod, something

Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

lightning rod

n. someone, something, or an issue that is certain to draw criticism. Why write such a boastful introduction to your book. I will just be a lightning rod for criticism.

See also: lightning, rod

See also:

References in periodicals archive ?

In Switzerland, France and Italy, popular prejudice against the lightning rod was ignited and fueled by the churches and resulted in the tearing down of lightning rods from many homes and buildings, including one from the Institute of Bologna, the leading scientific institution in Italy.

Franklin's unholy lightning rod

In reality, a lightning rod raises the ground from grade up to the tips of the points, or air terminals.

The lightning bug

Every infelicity of style is to be found in its pages: redundancies ("some little idiosyncratic eccentricity of Joe's"); euphemisms ("adverse collaterals"); non sequiturs ("people who had happened to be born short through no fault of their own"); needless prefatory phrases ("in fact, of course, as it turned out ..."); amateurish frequency of underscoring ("but that was exactly what a lightning rod was supposed to do"--one of nine examples on a single page); and those word repetitions that were the bane of Flaubert ("the funny thing was that he just thought it was funny to begin with").

Lightning Rods

Not to be left out of the benefits are the "lightning rod" women.

Helen DeWitt. Lightning Rods

This interesting collection of essays examines the scientific and cultural significance of the lightning rod over the past 250 years.

Playing with fire; histories of the lightning rod

She became a lightning rod of international controversy after claiming she was a kidnapped French princess.

Buzzworthy

Berkley and Pflueger team up to fight walleyes and stamp out missed strikes with the new 6-6 M Moderate Lightning Rod Shock ($49.95), and the 7030 Medalist Spinning Reel ($89.95).

Dynamic duo

In 1778, fashionable Parisian women never went out during stormy weather without a lightning rod attached to their hat.

it's a fact

There was no lightning rod at the runway of the airport, located in the city of Miyazaki.

Miyazaki airport temporarily closed after lightning strikes runway

Stealing God's thunder; Benjamin Franklin's lightning rod and the invention of America.

Dray, Philip. Stealing God's thunder; Benjamin Franklin's lightning rod and the invention of America

The retreat from multiculturalism began well before 2001--the 9/11 attacks served as a lightning rod to hasten anti-immigration attitudes.

Fall of the "Muslim atheist": Hirsi Ali's journey from Dutch politician to failed asylum seeker reveals much about Europe's retreat from multiculturalism

The Ten Commandments have become a lightning rod in U.S.

The Ten Commandments: The Reciprocity of Faithfulness

Marcovici acts like a lightning rod to Whelan's emotional electricity.

New York City Ballet

When I told Butch he was going to succeed me as CEO, he vowed that BE "would serve as the lightning rod to inform and inspire people to believe that all things are possible." Under his stewardship, I know that statement will ring true.

A historic rite of passage

The reporter at the center of it all--captivated by power, obsessed with high-level access, addicted to anonymous sources--acts as a pawn in an intragovernmental turf war, becoming in the process a lightning rod for critics of journalistic comportment.

From Bob Woodward to Judith Miller: the country's most reviled reporter is a direct descendant of its most beloved