witch-hunt

See also: witchhunt and witch hunt

English

Alternative forms

• witchhunt, witch hunt

Etymology

From witch +‎ hunt.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈwɪtʃhʌnt/

Noun

witch-hunt (plural witch-hunts)

1. (now chiefly historical) A search for people believed to be using sorcery or harmful magic, typically in order to persecute or punish them.
   • 1885, H. Rider Haggard, King Solomon's Mines:

     To-night ye will see. It is the great witch-hunt, and many will be smelt out as wizards and slain.

   • 2017, Ronald Hutton, The Witch, Yale University Press, published 2018, page 27:

     The rupturing of British rule over India in the rebellion of 1857 permitted a great witch-hunt, with lethal effects, to occur among the tribes of northern India.

2. (by extension) An attempt to find and punish or harass a group of people perceived as a threat, usually on ideological or political grounds.
   • 1938 April, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Homage to Catalonia, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC:

     Rank-and-file Communists everywhere are led away on a senseless witch-hunt after 'Trotskyists'.

3. (by extension) A public or political campaign or investigation which smears a person or group.
   • 2008, Mike Adams, Feminists Say the Darndest Things: A Politically Incorrect Professor Confronts "Womyn" on Campus, Penguin, →ISBN:

     Even fewer people could believe that the UNCW administration would actually undertake a witch hunt against me, even going so far as to invoke their right to read my personal e-mails because they were on the university's system.

   • 2012, Hugh Maguire, My First 40 Jobs: A Memoir, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 308:

     I defended myself vigorously on that complaint as well; also mentioning that Julie Ann Wilks had always disliked me and had been conducting “a witch hunt” against me. As soon as I said the words “witch hunt” Katy interrupted and wouldn't let me continue […]

   • 2016 May 15, Donald Trump, tweet quoted in 2019, Lindy West, The Witches Are Coming, Hachette Books (→ISBN)

     The media is really on a witch-hunt against me. False reporting, and plenty of it - but we will prevail!

Related terms

• witch hunter
• witch-hunting
• witch-hunty

 

Translations

persecution of persons believed to be using magic

• Arabic: مُطَارَدَةُ السَّاحِرَاتِ f (muṭāradatu s-sāḥirāti)
• Armenian: վհուկների որս (vhukneri ors)
• Belarusian: палява́нне на ве́дзьмаў n (paljavánnje na vjédzʹmaŭ)
• Bulgarian: лов на вещици m (lov na veštici)
• Catalan: caça de bruixes f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 獵巫／猎巫 (lièwū), 獵女巫／猎女巫 (liènǚwū)

• Czech: hon na čarodějnice m
• Danish: heksejagt c
• Dutch: heksenjacht (nl) m or f
• Estonian: nõiajaht
• Finnish: noitavaino (fi)
• French: chasse aux sorcières (fr) f
• German: Hexenjagd (de) f
• Greek: κυνήγι μαγισσών n (kynígi magissón)
• Hungarian: boszorkányüldözés (hu)
• Indonesian: perburuan penyihir
• Italian: caccia alle streghe f
• Japanese: 魔女狩り (ja) (まじょがり, majogari)
• Korean: 마녀사냥 (manyeosanyang)
• Macedonian: лов на вештерки m (lov na vešterki)
• Malay: memburu ahli sihir, penyihir memburu
• Norwegian: heksejakt (no) m or f
• Polish: polowanie na czarownice (pl) n
• Portuguese: caça às bruxas f
• Romanian: vânătoare de vrăjitoare f
• Russian: охо́та на ведьм (ru) f (oxóta na vedʹm)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: лов на вештице m, лов на вјештице m

  Roman: lov na veštice m, lov na vještice m

• Spanish: caza de brujas f
• Swedish: häxjakt (sv) c
• Thai: การล่าแม่มด (gaan-lâa-mɛ̂ɛ-mót)
• Turkish: cadı avı (tr)
• Ukrainian: полюва́ння на ві́дьом n (poljuvánnja na vídʹom)
• Volapük: (♂♀) magivanayag, (♂) himagivanayag, (♀) jimagivanayag

campaign to punish dissident persons

• Armenian: վհուկների որս (vhukneri ors)
• Catalan: caça de bruixes f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 政治迫害 (zhèngzhì pòhài)

• Danish: heksejagt c
• Dutch: heksenjacht (nl) m or f
• Finnish: noitavaino (fi)
• French: chasse aux sorcières (fr) f
• German: Hexenjagd (de) f
• Greek: κυνήγι μαγισσών n (kynígi magissón)
• Hungarian: boszorkányüldözés (hu)
• Italian: caccia alle streghe f
• Korean: 마녀사냥 (manyeosanyang)
• Norwegian: heksejakt (no) m or f
• Polish: polowanie na czarownice (pl) n
• Portuguese: caça às bruxas f
• Russian: охо́та на ведьм (ru) f (oxóta na vedʹm)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: лов на вештице m, лов на вјештице m

  Roman: lov na veštice m, lov na vještice m

• Spanish: caza de brujas f
• Swedish: häxjakt (sv) c
• Thai: การล่าแม่มด (gaan-lâa-mɛ̂ɛ-mót)

Verb

witch-hunt (third-person singular simple present witch-hunts, present participle witch-hunting, simple past and past participle witch-hunted)

1. (informal) To perform a witch-hunt.

See also

• harassment
• McCarthyism
• peine forte et dure
• Salem