public enemy number one

noun

: the nation's most wanted criminal : the most dangerous threat to society

In many countries today, drug abuse is public enemy number one.

Examples of public enemy number one in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

After streaking through town and stealing a jumpsuit from that same second-hand store, the snowman then becomes public enemy number one to a pair of local cops, who are hot on the now-human snowman’s impressively tight tail. —Brenna Ehrlich, Rolling Stone, 19 Nov. 2024

She’s proclaimed Nike as public enemy number one where women in sports are concerned and gone viral. —Pamela N. Danziger, Forbes, 4 Nov. 2024

Now over a year later, Will Smith seems to have been largely forgiven, while Jada Pinkett Smith finds herself as the internet’s public enemy number one. —Kushie Amin, refinery29.com, 30 Oct. 2023

In the case of the notorious plague in Europe, the event that forever marked rats as public enemy number one, the animals may be almost entirely innocent. —WIRED, 7 Oct. 2023

Fast forward to 2023 and librarians are being cast as public enemy number one, pedophiles, and groomers-in-chief, courtesy of extremist groups like Moms For Liberty. —Lisa Bubert, Longreads, 19 Sep. 2023

America's public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse. —Carol Sutton Lewis, Scientific American, 20 Apr. 2023

Tied for public enemy number one are highly pathogenic influenza viruses. —Larry Brilliant, Foreign Affairs, 20 Dec. 2022

The outside world is public enemy number one for our skin: we're exposed to free radicals from things like pollution and the sun's UV rays on a daily basis, and our skin barrier is like the little army that works overtime to protect it. —April Benshosan, Women's Health, 23 Feb. 2023