character assassination

noun

|Updated on: 11 Jun 2018

Examples: character assassination in a Sentence

Definition of character assassination

: the slandering of a person usually with the intention of destroying public confidence in that person

See character assassination defined for English-language learners

Examples of character assassination in a Sentence

None of those rumors are true. She's been the victim of character assassination.
the actor's lawyers charge that the tabloid engaged in a deliberate campaign of character assassination

Recent Examples of character assassination from the Web

Woodring didn’t elaborate on his claims about the women, which their lawyer called an unfair character assassination.

— Philly.com, "Onetime Pa. House employee claims he was fired for sticking up for embattled state rep," 2 May 2018
That’s not to say real couples don’t go through tumult, but the character assassination of Jim Halpert in the pursuit of high-stakes drama caused a beloved show to end on a sour note.

— joanna robinson, HWD, "What Michael Schur Gets Right About Love That Everyone Else Gets Wrong," 20 May 2018
These days, there are consequences for literal political assassinations and even for character assassination based on lies.

— brenna williams, CNN, "#TBT: Trump is right to be concerned with loyalty. Just ask Caesar.," 15 Mar. 2018
From here, the film progresses with your typical sci-fi/horror fare with jump scares and secondary character assassinations aplenty.

— darren orf, Popular Mechanics, "'Annihilation' Is a Sci-Fi Slog That's Worth the Wait," 25 Feb. 2018
Others scoff at the question, dismissing it as outrageous character assassination.

— peter baker and maggie haberman, New York Times, "Trump, Defending His Mental Fitness, Says He’s a ‘Very Stable Genius’," 6 Jan. 2018
There was also a campaign of character assassination.

— stephen galloway, The Hollywood Reporter, "How a Hollywood Studio Got Away With Rape in 1937," 13 Nov. 2017
And therein lies the hypocrisy with ESPN’s character assassination of Petersen and the Huskies.

— eric yates, ajc, "ESPN’s not-so-subtle war with Washington’s Chris Petersen is bad for college football," 8 Oct. 2017
In most of these cases, the punishment is expulsion from the ivory tower and a large dose of character assassination that will follow the fellow throughout his life.

— christine flowers, Alaska Dispatch News, "Rush to judgment in campus rape cases serves injustice," 14 Aug. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'character assassination.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.