red-bait

verb

ˈred-ˌbāt 

red-baited; red-baiting; red-baits

often capitalized R

transitive verb

: to subject (a person or group) to red-baiting

intransitive verb

: to engage in red-baiting

red-baiter noun often capitalized R

Examples of red-bait in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

An early scene in A Complete Unknown depicts the zeitgeist shift from the red-baiting McCarthy era to the open air of JFK’s New Frontier. —Thomas Doherty, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Feb. 2025

So there was a version of red-baiting going on by the pro-privatization crowd. —John Surico, Curbed, 18 Feb. 2025

Four years later, the Bronx Democratic machine set out to vanquish Gerena-Valentin by gerrymandering his apartment out of the district and red-baiting him. —Cary Goodman, New York Daily News, 5 Jan. 2025

Steel’s campaign did not expand on the red-baiting accusations, but pointed to a previous letter to Tran that condemned his accusations that Steel wasn’t a refugee and didn’t flee communism. —Kimmy Yam, NBC News, 27 Nov. 2024

Jurado won despite De León — a former political giant whose reputation went under like the Titanic after his role in the 2022 City Hall audio leak scandal — and his acolytes running a red-baiting campaign against his opponent straight outta 1934. —Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 21 Nov. 2024

Still, the whitewashing of Reagan’s red-baiting remains the movie’s defining sin, and a testament to how any sense of portraiture is swamped by the petty desire to win a one-sided debate. —Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 8 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1938, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Rhymes for red-bait

• abate
• airfreight
• await
• baseplate
• berate
• birthdate
• birthrate
• bookplate
• borate
• breastplate
• bromate
• casemate