Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The practice of publicizing accusations of political disloyalty or subversion with insufficient regard to evidence.
- noun The use of unfair investigatory or accusatory methods in order to suppress opposition.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- proper noun Unscrupulously accusing people of disloyalty (as by saying they were Communists).
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun pejorative The mass
pressure ,harassment , and/or blacklisting used to pressure people to follow popularpolitical beliefs . - proper noun The intense
opposition ,countering ,fear and/orsuspicion ofCommunism , particularly in theUnited States during the 1950s.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun unscrupulously accusing people of disloyalty (as by saying they were Communists)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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McCarthy liked to say that the Communist Party invented the term McCarthyism, which he, of course, flaunted in his usual egotistical way.
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McCarthy liked to say that the Communist Party invented the term McCarthyism, which he, of course, flaunted in his usual egotistical way.
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Back in the United States, McCarthyism is at its height.
Archive 2008-05-01 The Nag 2008
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Sounds like McCarthyism is still alive and well in the ol 'US of A.
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The only relevant law I know was a 1950 law that prevented Communist Party members from getting passports, and if the definition of McCarthyism is policies that targeted potentially subversive activities by actual members of the Stalinist Communist Party, then the definition is broad indeed!
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The only relevant law I know was a 1950 law that prevented Communist Party members from getting passports, and if the definition of McCarthyism is policies that targeted potentially subversive activities by actual members of the Stalinist Communist Party, then the definition is broad indeed!
Is That Legal?: McCarthyism Was Not An Essentially Private Phenomenon 2006
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"McCarthyism is Americanism with its sleeves rolled."
The Cold War 2008
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I think if the Obama campaign had not said the word McCarthyism, it would probably be better for them.
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Commentary: The essence of the tactic of McCarthyism is to de-legitimize one†™ s opponent so as to avoid addressing the substance of his argument
Think Progress » O’Reilly Reversal: “There Is No Attack On Easter” 2006
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The essence of the tactic of McCarthyism is to de-legitimize one†™ s opponent so as to avoid addressing the substance of his argument.
Think Progress » O’Reilly Reversal: “There Is No Attack On Easter” 2006
Comments
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