name names

idiom

: to say the names of people who are involved in something

He said he knew who did it, but he wouldn't name names.

Examples of name names in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Trump declined to name names, but the former president has railed against Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., chair of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, for alleged disloyalty. —

Ken Tran, USA TODAY, 13 June 2024 At the round table, Dan is finally, finally — it’s been 84 years, etc. — ready to name names. —

Molly Fitzpatrick, Vulture, 1 Feb. 2024 Although Livingstone didn’t name names, or specify sports, the first Big 12 football season without Texas and Oklahoma should be fascinating. —

Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 31 May 2024 Speaking over a plate of increasingly diabolical hot wings, host Sean Evans asked Mulaney about the worst times he'd been shot down by SNL hosts, without the need to name names. —

Lester Fabian Brathwaite, EW.com, 30 June 2023 Although naturally no one is allowed to name names, Wahlberg teases that, in season 10, one major artist in particular will appear on the show and trick everyone until the very end. —

Lauren Huff, EW.com, 8 Sep. 2023 When the interviewer asked her where the recipes had come from, Stewart didn’t name names. —

Emily Heil, Washington Post, 30 Jan. 2024 During his induction Friday night in Charlotte, N.C., Johnson will name names of those who helped him along the way — five of whom represented turning points in his career. —

Bill Center, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 Jan. 2024 Unlike most of the celebrities who had appeared before HUAC, Miller refused to name names. —

Stacy Schiff, The New York Review of Books, 22 Dec. 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'name names.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.