bum rap

American  

[buhm rap] / ˈbʌm ˈræp /

Also bad rap

noun

Slang.

1. an unjust accusation, verdict, or punishment.

   He was sent to prison on a bum rap.

2. an adverse opinion or judgment considered undeserved or unjust.

   The review was a bum rap, but I liked the play.

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bum rap British  

noun

1. a trumped-up or false charge

2. an unjust punishment

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bum rap Idioms  

1. A false accusation or conviction; also, unfair criticism or action. For example, He claimed he was in prison on a bum rap, or The theater critics gave her last play a bum rap. This expression originated in the 1920s as underworld slang, and by the mid-1900s it was also used figuratively for other kinds of injustice.

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Etymology

Origin of bum rap

First recorded in 1910–15; bum ¹ ( def. ) (in the sense “disappointing, unpleasant”) + rap ¹ ( def. ) (in the sense “blame, punishment, criminal charge”)

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bum rap

“My two-engine plane was out at Burbank, waiting, so that if I got a bum rap, I’d get out there, hop in, and leave America and my screen career forever.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

But there is a level on which the president is getting a bum rap.

From Fox News ● Jun. 2, 2020

“It’s a bum rap for AI. It’s an excuse. We’ve got to get out of the habit of looking at AI or any other technology as simply a way to fire people.”

From Washington Post ● Jan. 31, 2020

Picasso parried by mocking the apparent repetitiveness of the gaunt figures that had become the exclusive focus of Giacometti’s sculpture during his war years in Switzerland—a bum rap, as this show proves.

From The New Yorker ● Jun. 11, 2018

The class laughed along with him, but I always thought cliches got a bum rap.

From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini

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