assassination
21
7.0
- noun
- /əˌsæsɪˈneɪʃən/
- Literature
:
difamación
- Shit, you have credibility as a survivor of "character assassination" in the first place.
- character assassination
And in my case, it was, you know, that kind of smear, character assassination, mockery, minimizing.
- And in my case, it was, you know, that kind of smear, character assassination, mockery, minimizing.
- Calling out toxic patterns is not a character assassination.
- But if you do a character assassination, you smear the cause with the person and the cause goes down, not up.
Examples
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If a character assassination occurs, it can ruin someone's reputation beyond repair.
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But if you do a character assassination, you smear the cause with the person and the cause goes down, not up.
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It's not like character assassination in it by any form.
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Such character assassination intensified in the next month's issue.
Academic text (2008) -
I found that some of the most intense arguments and the most intense character assassinations that I ever witnessed were in academic committee meetings.
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Swift boaters may be more to blame; the character assassination of Kerry was a big part of it.
Blog text (5) -
Lawyers for Cook said that the accusations—which have attracted nationwide attention—constitute a "modern-day character assassination."
Academic text (2016) -
The WalI Street Journal-- here-- not exactly... a bastion of anti-capitalist sentiment, refutes Big Tobacco's smear campaign... as the lowest form of character assassination.
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I can take many things in this world, but what I cannot accept is an assassination of my character.
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Character assassination often happens in politics, where opponents make false claims to damage reputations.
Synonyms
40
7.1
To harm someone's reputation by saying untrue things about them in public
16
5.5
An organized effort to hurt someone's reputation by making false or unfair accusations
15
7.3
Hurts someone's reputation on purpose by spreading false or harmful stories
6
8.4
Saying or writing very harsh and unfair things about someone to damage their reputation
2
7.5
A secret effort to spread bad rumors about someone to make people think less of them
An attempt to damage someone's reputation by making false claims
Full of unfair personal attacks meant to damage someone's reputation
Damage to a person's good name by saying untrue things
Antonyms
Compounds
- Literature
15
7.3
Hurts someone's reputation on purpose by spreading false or harmful stories
How Damaging
- Literature
21
7.0
16
5.5
- Specialized
44
6.6
394
3.1
- Offensive
313
1.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
assassination = assassinate (semi-transparent) = assassin + ation
Built from 'assassinate' + '-ation' but used figuratively here ('assassination of character' = deliberate reputational damage), so the relation is metaphorical rather than literal.
Etymology
Assassination is also used for the deliberate damaging of someone's reputation. It borrows the image of an assassin (a secret killer), so it often means a 'killing' of a person's good name by lies or attacks.