red-bait

verb

ˈred-ˌbāt 

variants often Red-bait

red-baited; red-baiting; red-baits

transitive verb

: to subject (a person or group) to red-baiting

intransitive verb

: to engage in red-baiting

red-baiter noun

often Red-baiter

Examples of red-bait in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Commentary and opinions Republicans want to turn the clock back — to the red-baiting 1950s, columnist Michael Hiltzik argues. — Los Angeles Times, 29 July 2026

Advertisement Most notably, in 1958, congressional conservatives pushed to rein in the Warren Court for rulings that challenged and undercut the red-baiting that characterized the era of McCarthyism. — Time, 14 Nov. 2025

An early scene in A Complete Unknown depicts the zeitgeist shift from the red-baiting McCarthy era to the open air of JFK’s New Frontier. — Thomas Doherty, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Feb. 2025

So there was a version of red-baiting going on by the pro-privatization crowd. — John Surico, Curbed, 18 Feb. 2025

Four years later, the Bronx Democratic machine set out to vanquish Gerena-Valentin by gerrymandering his apartment out of the district and red-baiting him. — Cary Goodman, New York Daily News, 5 Jan. 2025

Steel’s campaign did not expand on the red-baiting accusations, but pointed to a previous letter to Tran that condemned his accusations that Steel wasn’t a refugee and didn’t flee communism. — Kimmy Yam, NBC News, 27 Nov. 2024

Still, the whitewashing of Reagan’s red-baiting remains the movie’s defining sin, and a testament to how any sense of portraiture is swamped by the petty desire to win a one-sided debate. — Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 8 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1938, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Rhymes for red-bait

• abate
• airfreight
• await
• baseplate
• berate
• birthdate
• birthrate
• bookplate
• borate
• breastplate
• bromate
• casemate