witch hunt

noun

Definition of witch hunt

1 : a searching out for persecution of persons accused of witchcraft

2 : the searching out and deliberate harassment of those (such as political opponents) with unpopular views

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Examples of witch hunt in a Sentence

He was the victim of a congressional witch hunt against Communists.

Recent Examples on the Web

Since the publication of the guideline, the American Medical Association, the American Association of Family Physicians, and other organizations have repudiated the science, logic, and conclusions of the CDC guideline and of the DEA’s witch hunt. — STAT, "Stop persecuting doctors for legitimately prescribing opioids for chronic pain," 28 June 2019 After that year’s election, Mr. Manafort became a central figure in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian election interference, which Mr. Trump has called a witch hunt. — Corinne Ramey, WSJ, "Manafort Pleads Not Guilty to 16 Additional State Charges," 27 June 2019 Increasingly, those who had inherited white Protestant traditions defined themselves around racial and ethnic homogeneity, as cultural oppositions began to harden. Anti-immigrant witch hunts and lynch mobs ensued. — Sarah Churchwell, The New York Review of Books, "America’s Original Identity Politics," 7 Feb. 2019 Few writers have recreated the pedantic trappings of university faculty quite so faithfully as McCarthy, who crafts an interdepartmental witch hunt like no other. — Adrienne Westenfeld, Town & Country, "The Ultimate Preppy College Reading List," 3 Oct. 2014 The film explains how the Florida Legislative Investigative Committee in the late 1950s and early 1960s conducted a gay witch hunt against college students and faculty members at the state’s public universities. — Hal Boedeker, orlandosentinel.com, "Stonewall at 50: Toast gay progress," 25 June 2019 He is scheduled to go on trial in September, and his lawyers have called the allegations a political witch hunt. — Time, "Wife of Rep. Duncan Hunter Pleads Guilty to Corruption Charge, Faces 5 Years in Prison," 13 June 2019 In Hart’s mind, the press went on a witch hunt, but for the press and much of the American public this was a quest for truth. — Kate Klausner, Vogue, "Hugh Jackman Trades Wolverine for Politics at Last Night’s Premiere of The Front Runner," 31 Oct. 2018 Netanyahu has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and has dismissed the accusations as a witch hunt orchestrated by a hostile media. — Washington Post, "Israeli police question Netanyahu over telecom case," 2 Mar. 2018

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