hatchet job

American  

noun

1. a maliciously destructive critique or act.

   The special committee has done a hatchet job on the new proposal.

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hatchet job British  

noun

1. informal a malicious or devastating verbal or written attack

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hatchet job Idioms  

1. see hatchet man, def. 2.

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Etymology

Origin of hatchet job

First recorded in 1940–45

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hatchet job

Though she was fully aware of the potential controversy of her charges, she never intended for her book to be the hatchet job that many reviewers believed it to be.

From New York Times ● Nov. 4, 2022

“I wasn’t going to do a hatchet job or a hit piece on Donald Trump. I wanted to understand who these people were,” he says.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 13, 2022

Woody Allen and his wife Soon-Yi Previn have described a new documentary series about the US actor and director as a "hatchet job riddled with falsehoods".

From BBC ● Feb. 22, 2021

“Instead, they spent years surreptitiously collaborating with the Farrows and their enablers to put together a hatchet job riddled with falsehoods.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 22, 2021

“I guess you saw that hatchet job in the paper,” I say.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

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