show trial
noun
: a trial (as of political opponents) in which the verdict is rigged and a public confession is often extracted
Examples of show trial in a Sentence
They were forced to confess their guilt in public show trials.
Recent Examples on the Web
He was then sentenced to more than 20 years in prison on embezzlement and contempt charges in what international observers dubbed a show trial.
—
Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 20 Feb. 2024
Not even the coming Red Terror, the labor camps, the show trials, and Siberian exiles could curb Edmund Wilson’s infatuation with Lenin.
—Elizabeth Powers, National Review, 21 Dec. 2023
The Foreign Office didn’t want him, but journalism did: Shakespeare’s account of the Stalinist show trial of six British engineers, which Fleming covered in Moscow in 1933 for Reuters, is riveting.
—James Parker, The Atlantic, 12 Feb. 2024
Russia charged a theater director and a playwright with allegations of justifying terrorism, echoing a show trial for the Master that the film’s creators added to the script.
—Paul Sonne, New York Times, 16 Feb. 2024
The case drew comparisons to a Stalin-era show trial.
—Yuliya Talmazan, NBC News, 16 Feb. 2024
Madeleine’s role in The Bitter Tears of Marie Antoinette, filmed at a guillotine, suggests how corporate media’s travesty of J6 show trials on network TV put us through a modern version of the French Revolution’s Jacobin Terror.
—Armond White, National Review, 26 Jan. 2024
On Monday, the show trial of Jimmy Lai, the 76-year-old Hong Kong pro-democracy icon and former newspaper owner, kicked off.
—The Editors, National Review, 19 Dec. 2023
Regardless, the best way to demonstrate that something is not a show trial is to show the trial.
—Amy Davidson Sorkin, The New Yorker, 26 Nov. 2023
Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 20 Feb. 2024
Not even the coming Red Terror, the labor camps, the show trials, and Siberian exiles could curb Edmund Wilson’s infatuation with Lenin.
—Elizabeth Powers, National Review, 21 Dec. 2023
The Foreign Office didn’t want him, but journalism did: Shakespeare’s account of the Stalinist show trial of six British engineers, which Fleming covered in Moscow in 1933 for Reuters, is riveting.
—James Parker, The Atlantic, 12 Feb. 2024
Russia charged a theater director and a playwright with allegations of justifying terrorism, echoing a show trial for the Master that the film’s creators added to the script.
—Paul Sonne, New York Times, 16 Feb. 2024
The case drew comparisons to a Stalin-era show trial.
—Yuliya Talmazan, NBC News, 16 Feb. 2024
Madeleine’s role in The Bitter Tears of Marie Antoinette, filmed at a guillotine, suggests how corporate media’s travesty of J6 show trials on network TV put us through a modern version of the French Revolution’s Jacobin Terror.
—Armond White, National Review, 26 Jan. 2024
On Monday, the show trial of Jimmy Lai, the 76-year-old Hong Kong pro-democracy icon and former newspaper owner, kicked off.
—The Editors, National Review, 19 Dec. 2023
Regardless, the best way to demonstrate that something is not a show trial is to show the trial.
—Amy Davidson Sorkin, The New Yorker, 26 Nov. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'show trial.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near show trial
Cite this Entry
“Show trial.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/show%20trial. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share