: a journey especially by a group of people for a specific purpose (such as to explore a distant place or to do research) — also used in a playful way to refer to a short trip for a specific purpose

? The phrase fishing expedition is sometimes used in a disapproving way, especially in U.S. English, to describe a situation in which a person or group looks for evidence that someone has done something wrong without having a good reason to believe the evidence exists.

• Critics charge that the government investigation is a politically motivated fishing expedition .

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: a group of people who travel together to a distant place : a group of people who go on an expedition