open old wounds

open old wounds

To bring up or remind someone of a painful, tragic, or unfortunate past event or situation. Seeing Jessica with her new girlfriend opened a lot of old wounds this afternoon. The fight got pretty nasty, and we both started opening old wounds from years ago.
See also: old, open, wound
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

open old wounds

or

reopen old wounds

If something or someone opens old wounds or reopens old wounds, they remind you of an unpleasant experience in the past that you would prefer to forget. I didn't raise the subject again — I was in no hurry to open old wounds. It is said that the row is reopening old wounds among Conservative MPs.
See also: old, open, wound
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.
See also:
  • reopen
  • reopen old wounds
  • keep after
  • keep after (someone or something)
  • this too shall pass (away)
  • need I remind you (that)
  • need I remind you that
  • remind
  • remind (one) of (someone or something)
  • remind of
References in periodicals archive
He said the decision to hold the event was not to open old wounds but to bury negative sides of June 12 and it ill-feelings, hates frustration and agony.
A show source said: "Mel's return will turn a few heads - and tear open old wounds."
He and his partner are then plunged into a realm that follows an unnaturally strict set of rules and is as intent to open old wounds as it is to keep them behind closed doors."
RIPPER STREET BBC2, 9.00pm Just as it seems that Reid and Drake have found their working dynamic once more, they are forced to engage with a difficult murder case that threatens to open old wounds. A young man has been found murdered and the investigation leads to the Thames Ironworks and into the brutal world of Victorian football.
RIPPER STREET BBC2, 9pm Just as it seems that Reid and Drake have found their working dynamic once more, they are forced to engage with a difficult murder case that threatens to open old wounds. A young man has been found murdered and the investigation leads to the Thames Ironworks and into the brutal world of Victorian football.
The visit presented a diplomatic tightrope for a US president trying to make history without ripping open old wounds.
KNIGHT MARE KKR open old wounds for Daredevils, gunning them down by 9wkts in alopsided contest
Borini has made no secret of the fact that he and Rodgers did not see eye-to-eye, and while he is unwilling to open old wounds and Jurgen Klopp has since taken over at Anfield, the striker still feels he has something to prove.
Beetle Boy is a young adult story about prying open old wounds and wading into their wreckage, and the doors that open only after you've taken that excruciating step.
The figures open old wounds - unemployment under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher hit 3 million in the early 1980s and gave the Conservative party a reputation for not caring about joblessness.
"They should let him in to die among his loved ones." Singh has insisted Chin Peng has the right to return under a 1989 peace agreement between the CPM and Malaysian government which allowed several high-ranking communist leaders to do so.But the government has rejected all appeals, fearing Chin Peng's return may open old wounds and anger those whose family members were killed during the emergency.
This is a week that will force the Monks to open old wounds but will also remind them of the importance of family.
Meanwhile, Ahmeti advised the media not to open old wounds because they hurt more than the fresh ones.
North Korea has already been facing rough weather after South Korea accused it of torpedoing its warship prising open old wounds in the Korean Peninsula.
This will only help open old wounds from the civil war and pave the way for more sectarian violence, Salman said.