poison-pen

American  

[poi-zuhn-pen] / ˈpɔɪ zənˈpɛn /

adjective

1. composed or sent maliciously, as a letter, usually anonymously and for the purpose of damaging another's reputation or happiness.

   The newspaper received a poison-pen letter alleging that the mayor was misusing city funds.

2. characterized by or given to the sending of poison-pen letters.

   a poison-pen campaign; a poison-pen writer.

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Etymology

Origin of poison-pen

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

The gamebook offers a variety of multimedia evidence—cartoonish photographs of the main characters, typewritten notes, news clippings, poison-pen letters—and then encourages the would-be detectives to flip back and forth until they reach their conclusion.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 14, 2025

There’s no murder here, but someone is leaving poison-pen letters, repellent drawings and destructive wreckage around the campus; Harriet, drawn back for an alumni weekend, gets pulled into the mystery.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 15, 2019

Theroux retaliated with "Sir Vidia's Shadow," a poison-pen memoir about their friendship.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 28, 2016

“Le Corbeau” is about a plague of poison-pen letters in a provincial town that has the effect of making the community seem even narrower and more oppressive: it closes in on itself.

From New York Times • Dec. 4, 2011

The "poison-pen" puzzle hadn't been exactly easy to solve, and his visit to Washington, though brief, had been sufficiently long for him to absorb some of the nervous excitement which permeated the department.

From On Secret Service Detective-Mystery Stories Based on Real Cases Solved By Government Agents by Taft, William Nelson