dox

verb

ˈdäks 

variants or doxx

doxed or doxxed; doxing or doxxing; doxes or doxxes

transitive verb

informal

: to publicly identify or publish private information about (someone) especially as a form of punishment or revenge

… Facebook, like other platforms, wants to prevent users from being doxed or otherwise targeted for harassment …

—Karissa Bell

On general principles, I support Internet anonymity and look askance at people's efforts to "out" or "dox" anonymous Web commenters whose views they disagree with, much less for simple sport.

—Damon Poeter

This isn't the first time the LAPD has been doxxed. In 2011, a group affiliated with the online hackers Anonymous claimed responsibility for posting personal information of more than 40 officers, including their home addresses, campaign contributions, property records, and names of family members after they claimed the LAPD oppressed them by shutting down the Occupy L.A. Movement.

—Christine Pelisek

doxing noun

or doxxing

plural doxings or doxxings

informal

They were doxed when an anonymous Wikipedia user edited their pages. The information was quickly removed after the doxing was discovered and aides contacted authorities.

—Alex Horton and Reis Thebault

… "doxxing"—the term used for the troll harassment technique of finding and then posting a user's sensitive personal information, including addresses, phone numbers, and even Social Security numbers.

—Harry Bruinius

The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office Cyber Crimes Unit began investigating a pattern of doxxings and harassing phone calls that targeted the employees, authorities said.

—Chris Sheldon

Examples of dox in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

And last year Appalachian Archives attempted to dox nearly two dozen other people, including community leaders who had denounced antisemitism. —David D. Kirkpatrick, The New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2024

My sister’s social media profiles were also used to dox her. —Pallabi Munsi, CNN, 7 Feb. 2023

The company has faced criticism recently for providing security services to Kiwi Farms, whose users frequently dox and harass transgender people and where a campaign that specifically targeted a popular trans Twitch streamer pushed her into hiding. —Emily Mae Czachor, CBS News, 1 Sep. 2022

One of the women who initially posted about Caleb shared a video Thursday asking people not to dox him. —Washington Post, 23 Jan. 2022

Word History

Etymology

respelling of docs, plural of doc (short for document entry 1), verbal derivative based on earlier dropping docs, doc-dropping, etc., describing the same act

First Known Use

2009, in the meaning defined above