variants or doxx
doxed or doxxed; doxing or doxxing; doxes or doxxes

transitive verb

informal
: to publicly identify or publish private information about (someone) especially as a form of punishment or revenge
… Facebook, like other platforms, wants to prevent users from being doxed or otherwise targeted for harassment …Karissa Bell
On general principles, I support Internet anonymity and look askance at people's efforts to "out" or "dox" anonymous Web commenters whose views they disagree with, much less for simple sport.Damon Poeter
This isn't the first time the LAPD has been doxxed. In 2011, a group affiliated with the online hackers Anonymous claimed responsibility for posting personal information of more than 40 officers, including their home addresses, campaign contributions, property records, and names of family members after they claimed the LAPD oppressed them by shutting down the Occupy L.A. Movement.Christine Pelisek
doxing noun
or doxxing
plural doxings or doxxings
informal
They were doxed when an anonymous Wikipedia user edited their pages. The information was quickly removed after the doxing was discovered and aides contacted authorities. Alex Horton and Reis Thebault
… "doxxing"—the term used for the troll harassment technique of finding and then posting a user's sensitive personal information, including addresses, phone numbers, and even Social Security numbers. Harry Bruinius
The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office Cyber Crimes Unit began investigating a pattern of doxxings and harassing phone calls that targeted the employees, authorities said. Chris Sheldon

Examples of dox in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Like a pro, Heyer just performed her way through it, showed off her Brat underwear, and made a video the next morning encouraging people not to dox that girl. Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 19 Oct. 2024 And last year Appalachian Archives attempted to dox nearly two dozen other people, including community leaders who had denounced antisemitism. David D. Kirkpatrick, The New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2024 My sister’s social media profiles were also used to dox her. Pallabi Munsi, CNN, 7 Feb. 2023 The company has faced criticism recently for providing security services to Kiwi Farms, whose users frequently dox and harass transgender people and where a campaign that specifically targeted a popular trans Twitch streamer pushed her into hiding. Emily Mae Czachor, CBS News, 1 Sep. 2022 One of the women who initially posted about Caleb shared a video Thursday asking people not to dox him. Washington Post, 23 Jan. 2022

Word History

Etymology

respelling of docs, plural of doc (short for document entry 1), verbal derivative based on earlier dropping docs, doc-dropping, etc., describing the same act

First Known Use

2009, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of dox was in 2009

Dictionary Entries Near dox

Cite this Entry

“Dox.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dox. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.

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