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McCarthyism. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
McCarthyism, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
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English
Etymology
From McCarthy + -ism, named after United States Senator Joseph McCarthy. Originates from a 1950 Washington Post political cartoon by Herbert Block.
Noun
McCarthyism (usually uncountable, plural McCarthyisms)
- (derogatory) The mass pressure, harassment, and/or blacklisting used to pressure people to follow popular political beliefs, especially as opposed to communism.
2024 November 17, Carole Cadwalladr, “How to survive the broligarchy: 20 lessons for the post-truth world”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-11-28:This is McMuskism: it’s McCarthyism on steroids, political persecution + Trump + Musk + Silicon Valley surveillance tools. It’s the dawn of a new age of political witch-hunts, where burning at the stake meets data harvesting and online mobs.
Translations
Proper noun
McCarthyism
- The intense opposition to, and fear and suspicion of, Communism, particularly in the United States during the 1950s.
- Hypernym: anticommunism
1964, Daniel Bell, The Radical Right, page 234:An important symptom of the difference between McCarthyism and Birchism is the shift in the geographical center of gravity.
Translations
intense opposition to Communism
Derived terms
See also