as in journalist
someone who tries to reveal information about prominent individuals behaving badly
The newspaper used a team of seasoned muckrakers to expose the corruption at city hall.
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Recent Examples of muckraker
Eric Bogosian’s leather jacket-wearing muckraker is still asking questions in season three of Interview With the Vampire, and the AMC series has been renamed in honor of Molloy’s latest subject.
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Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
23 June 2026
Famous American muckrakers include Ida Tarbell who wrote about Standard Oil’s monopoly; Lincoln Steffens who wrote about corruption in city halls; and Upton Sinclair who exposed deplorable conditions in the meatpacking industry.
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Encyclopedia Britannica,
21 May 2026
One spring day, Tan’s critical gaze landed on the work of freelance journalist Gil Duran, a tech-industry muckraker with a background in Democratic politics who was starting to take very seriously the right-wing political ambitions of San Francisco tech moguls.
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Literary Hub,
15 Oct. 2025
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
23 June 2026
Famous American muckrakers include Ida Tarbell who wrote about Standard Oil’s monopoly; Lincoln Steffens who wrote about corruption in city halls; and Upton Sinclair who exposed deplorable conditions in the meatpacking industry.
—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
21 May 2026
One spring day, Tan’s critical gaze landed on the work of freelance journalist Gil Duran, a tech-industry muckraker with a background in Democratic politics who was starting to take very seriously the right-wing political ambitions of San Francisco tech moguls.
—
Literary Hub,
15 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for muckraker
Noun
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The creation of this content included the use of AI based on templates created, reviewed and edited by journalists in the newsroom.
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No human journalist was harmed in this experiment.
Noun
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Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY.
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The Riverside County sheriff drew flak for conservatives like Laura Loomer for kneeling alongside activists in the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and, when pressed by a CNN reporter, for signaling openness to a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
Cite this Entry
“Muckraker.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/muckraker. Accessed 27 Jun. 2026.
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