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Glite Dictionary
guilt by association

guilt by association

11 7.0
Blaming someone for bad acts because they are friends with guilty people, without proof
  • noun
: culpa por asociación
  • "I think that's the worst type of guilt by association," she says.
  • innuendo and guilt by association
  • guilt by association calling
  • name-calling and guilt by association

But again, the embarrassment and guilt by association happens every time.

Examples

  • Critics may charge that we are deploying against Foote the same "guilt-by-association" tactics used throughout the McCarthy era.

    Academic text (2007)

  • Yet even if constitutional for non-citizens, these steps still amount to guilt by association.

    Academic text (2004)

  • So it's guilt by association.

    The Killer's Game (2024)

  • Last, I get what you are saying about guilt by association.

    Blog text (7)

  • To make this out as a form of guilt by association and shut up all criticism.

    Blog text (22)

  • I just love how conservatives are getting all squeamish about guilt by association these days.

    Blog text (27)

  • Willis seems to be proposing a doctrine of collective responsibility and guilt by association for all climate scientists.

    Blog text (23)

  • What you're asking for is based on the faulty premise of "guilt by association" to the nth degree.

    Blog text (10)

  • The politician faced accusations of guilt by association due to his friendship with a convicted criminal.

  • During the trial, the defense argued that the evidence amounted to guilt by association rather than direct wrongdoing.

Synonyms

damned by association
vsguilt by association
  • NSFW
1 9.0

People treat you as bad because you are connected to someone who did wrong

assigns guilt without direct evidence solely due to that relationship

Antonyms

innocence
161 3.4

Not guilty of a crime

Surface Forms

guilt by association singular
guilt by associations plural

Morphology

guilt + by + association

The meaning is directly and predictably built from 'guilt' (responsibility/blame) + 'by' (through/caused by) + 'association' (a connection with others), so a learner who knows the constituent words can infer that blame is assigned because of someone's connections. This compositional pattern (blame because of association) is cross-linguistically common, making the expression transparent to B1 learners.

Etymology

Guilt by association comes from a simple image: a person's guilt seems to 'rub off' on someone standing close because of their association, like a stain moving from one shirt to another. So, the phrase means being judged 'guilty' just because of who you are connected to.