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

Example Sentences

Later, the scene is recut as a hatchet job on social media that leads to Tár’s downfall.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 23, 2023

“It’s below me to even dignify this hatchet job with a response.”

From New York Times • Nov. 20, 2022

Allen, now 85, and Previn, 50, issued a joint statement last week accusing the documentarians of “surreptitiously collaborating with the Farrows and their enablers to put together a hatchet job riddled with falsehoods.”

From Washington Post • Mar. 1, 2021

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

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

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood