Definition of "witch-hunt" []

• An investigation carried out ostensibly to uncover subversive activities but actually used to harass and undermine those with differing views. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Such political tactics can only be characterized as demonization -- or what Professor Adam Levitin calls a witch-hunt."
• ""The press set about what can only be described as a witch-hunt.""
• "World's 9 most ridiculously expensive cars King hearings called a witch-hunt Molly Lewis serenades Stephen Fry on ukulele at Harvard: "Let me have your baby""