witch-hunting
Targeting alleged sorcerers
Witch-hunting is the pursuit and persecution of people accused of witchcraft, or by extension, any campaign to identify and punish those deemed dangerous or subversive.
The term now typically describes aggressive investigations driven more by hysteria or ideology than evidence: The committee's hearings devolved into witch-hunting.
McCarthyism remains the standard American example.
Sustained, probing investigation
- purgeEliminate unwanted elements
- heresyBelief opposing official doctrine
- trialJudicial examination of claims
- burningCombustion in progress
stake · execution · torture · oppression · intolerance · bigotry · crusade · repression
Without legal right
- scapegoatUnfairly blamed person
- innocentFree from moral wrong
- framedEnclosed or blamed falsely
- slanderSpoken false defamation
defamation · libel · vilification · stigmatization · smear · prejudice · bias · discrimination
Violent mental agitation
- maniaIntense, consuming obsession
- paranoiaIrrational persecution fears
- contagionDisease spread by contact
- alarmismNeedless raising of fears
overreaction · irrationality · fever · delirium · obsession · fanaticism · craze · groupthink
Formal examination of facts
- interrogationFormal, probing examination
- tribunalJudicial decision-making body
- hearingPerceiving sound waves
- testimonySworn statement as evidence
cross-examination · inquisitor · allegation · evidence · witness · confession · denunciation · proceedings
inquisition
Sustained, probing investigation
- purgeEliminate unwanted elements
- heresyBelief opposing official doctrine
- trialJudicial examination of claims
burning · stake · execution · torture · oppression · intolerance · bigotry · crusade · repression · tyranny
wrongful
Without legal right
slander · defamation · libel · vilification · stigmatization · smear · prejudice · bias · discrimination · miscarriage
frenzy
Violent mental agitation
- maniaIntense, consuming obsession
- paranoiaIrrational persecution fears
- contagionDisease spread by contact
alarmism · overreaction · irrationality · fever · delirium · obsession · fanaticism · craze · groupthink · scapegoating
investigation
Formal examination of facts
- interrogationFormal, probing examination
- tribunalJudicial decision-making body
- hearingPerceiving sound waves
testimony · cross-examination · inquisitor · allegation · evidence · witness · confession · denunciation · proceedings · prosecution
witchcraft
Practice of supernatural magic
hex · curse · spell · familiar · devil · demon · possession · heresy · blasphemy · paganism
witch-huntingdue process
Guaranteed judicial fairness
fair trial · presumption of innocence · impartial investigation · rule of law · habeas corpus
witch-huntingtolerance
Willingness to accept difference
protection · vindication · exoneration · acceptance · inclusion
witch-huntingskepticism
Disposition toward doubt
scientific method · evidence-based reasoning · critical thinking · level-headedness · empiricism
hunter, hunting, hunted, witches, bewitch, bewitched, bewitching, hunting dog, witchery