phrase
also: Fairy Tales & Folklore
Witch Hunt
A public campaign that punishes people on the basis of suspicion or panic rather than evidence.
Origin
From the literal witch trials of early-modern Europe and colonial America โ most famously Salem in 1692 โ where hundreds were executed on flimsy testimony. Arthur Miller's The Crucible (1953) used Salem as an allegory for McCarthyism, fixing the metaphor in modern political usage.
Modern usage
Now almost exclusively political: a label politicians and pundits use to dismiss investigations or accusations against themselves or their allies.
In the wild
He called the probe a witch hunt, as every president under investigation eventually does.โ political reporting clichรฉ
Tags
persecution
panic