smear campaign
16
5.5
- noun
- /smɪr kæmˈpeɪn/
:
campaña de desprestigio
- The politician faced a vicious smear campaign aimed at tarnishing his reputation before the election.
- launching a smear campaign
- waging a smear campaign
- victim of a smear campaign
But the behaviour you're describing, I am familiar with a smear campaign.
- But the behaviour you're describing, I am familiar with a smear campaign.
- They launched A smear campaign on me and they tried to shut this down.
- So they bribed politicians, they bribed journalists to basically concoct a smear campaign.
- And I think the only righteous option is to is to oppose these labels, these smear campaigns that target us.
- Flying monkeys, smear campaigns, charm, charisma, you name it.
- The third is that smear campaigns and smear campaigners are obsessive.
- Of course they they do hackers, they create so many smear campaign against me.
- This feels slightly like like a smear campaign from some of my my friends because I don't leave the house.
Examples
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Carroll said he fought back against a smear campaign by his opponents.
Blog text (12) -
It quotes Richard Scruggs calling it the worst kind... of an organized smear campaign against a whistle-blower.
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It's a smear campaign, Charlie.
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The media is now on a huge smear campaign against her.
Blog text (20) -
There are a number of talking points that are made available to help Democrats fight the coming smear campaign.
Blog text (7) -
Some weird smear campaign by the automakers.
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Right now, the most powerful media machine on the entire planet... is planning a smear campaign like nothing you've ever seen.
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I hope the mainstream media can live with themselves on assisting OB in running the worst smear campaign in political history.
Blog text (19) -
Is this just a smear campaign driven by jealousy and greed?
Blog text (29) -
The first was when a major mosque project in Boston was halted due to a smear campaign linking it with terrorists.
Blog text (11)
Synonyms
40
7.1
To harm someone's reputation by saying untrue things about them in public
15
7.3
Hurts someone's reputation on purpose by spreading false or harmful stories
12
6.0
Secret dishonest actions that harm or make someone look bad, often in politics and business
6
8.4
Saying or writing very harsh and unfair things about someone to damage their reputation
5
8.4
A written or spoken attack that unfairly hurts someone's reputation
2
7.4
Organized effort to spread secret bad rumors to make people think badly of someone
2
7.5
A secret effort to spread bad rumors about someone to make people think less of them
Full of unfair personal attacks meant to damage someone's reputation
An attempt to damage someone's reputation by making false claims
How Damaging
- Literature
15
7.3
16
5.5
- Literature
9
4.8
- Literature
2
7.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'smear' (to make damaging or malicious statements about someone) with 'campaign' (a planned series of actions), yielding a planned effort to damage someone's reputation. This compositional noun–noun construction is common and cross‑linguistically predictable, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Smear campaign may come from the image of someone smearing dirt or ink on a person's face or papers to make them look bad, with campaign meaning an organized effort. So, a smear campaign is an organized set of attacks 'to harm someone's reputation'.