(in historical use) the investigation, trial, and punishment of alleged practitioners of witchcraft.
an intensive inquiry, originally or purportedly to discover and expose dishonesty, subversion, or other wrongdoing, the scope and conclusions of which often include and bring harm to innocent persons or their reputations through reliance on hearsay or circumstantial evidence.
First recorded in 1885–90 witch hunt for def. 1; in 1935–40 witch hunt for def. 2; and in 1945–50 witch hunt for def. 3; the gerund witch-hunting was first recorded in 1635–40
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In a statement, she denounced the process as unfair, saying the Ethics Committee "refused my new attorney's reasonable request for time to prepare my defense" and describing the proceedings as "a witch hunt."
From Barron's ● Apr. 21, 2026
The brothers have not made any public statements, but their lawyer told the court that they were being made victims of a "witch hunt".
From BBC ● Dec. 11, 2025
“What we’re seeing is a witch hunt against lesbians,” she said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
Though the witch hunt never reaches the level of Arthur Miller, Cregger establishes a steady foundation on which he can build suspicion, stacking his interlinked narrative vignettes high into the sky.
From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2025
This was an accident and a witch hunt; the prosecution felt the defense had insulated itself from science and reality.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
“Good Night, and Good Luck,” a deft stage translation of the movie chronicling CBS newsman Murrow’s heroic stand against Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s communist witch-hunt, may not have made the playwriting cut.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2025
In the summer of 2021, after six years of lobbying by a coalition of witch-hunt survivors, nongovernmental organizations, academics and lawyers, the United Nations passed a resolution condemning witch-hunting and ritual attacks.
From Scientific American ● May 31, 2023
Church officials say it and its millions of worshippers are victims of a witch-hunt.
From Reuters ● Mar. 12, 2023
“When you don’t understand a group and then you blame them for a problem, that is witch-hunt mentality.”
From New York Times ● Feb. 16, 2023
The aged fascist would conduct witch-hunt after witch-hunt until the formerly intact Ignatius J. Reilly was reduced to a fragmented and mumbling vegetable.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
