guilt by association

Cultural  

1. The attribution of guilt to individuals because of the people or organizations with which they associate, rather than because of any crime that they have committed.

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Example Sentences

For starters, the U.S. government’s allegations against the firms aren’t merely guilt by association.

From Barron's • Feb. 17, 2026

There are good reasons of privacy and unfair guilt by association not to dump hundreds of thousands of pages of raw FBI investigatory files into the public arena.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 13, 2025

Morris, who is Black, called claims of racism preposterous and said it was a campaign of guilt by association.

From Salon • Nov. 14, 2024

This allowed the researchers to group genes into common clusters that revealed the role of each gene through "guilt by association."

From Science Daily • May 23, 2024

Oh, that's pretty remote guilt by association, Colin.

From Sentiment, Inc. by Anderson, Poul William