How to Use show trial in a Sentence
show trial
noun- They were forced to confess their guilt in public show trials.
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If a show trial for a cardinal doesn’t do it, what would?
—William McGurn, WSJ, 19 Sep. 2022
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Have a big, flashy show trial and charge them with something frightful.
—Erik Klemetti, Discover Magazine, 22 Oct. 2012
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He was charged and convicted in a show trial of stealing a poster from a hotel.
—Anne Saker, Cincinnati.com, 12 June 2018
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Regardless, the best way to demonstrate that something is not a show trial is to show the trial.
—Amy Davidson Sorkin, The New Yorker, 26 Nov. 2023
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The purges and show trials were depicted as efforts to rid the country of German agents.
—Winston Groom, WSJ, 4 Dec. 2018
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The metaphor is clear: The Scottsboro Boys, cast as brutes in a show trial, were convicted not on the weight of the evidence but by the color of their skin.
—Andrea Simakis, cleveland, 16 Feb. 2020
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Just a year later, Pravda took an active role in whipping up the hysteria that led to the show trials of the Great Purge.
—Will Englund, Washington Post, 17 Jan. 2018
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The hearings, although not a show trial, were unquestionably designed by the Democrats to be, at least in part, a show.
—Robert P. Baird, The New Yorker, 18 Nov. 2019
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Are these gonna be any better or are these just show trials, essentially, that lead to nothing?
—Eric Johnson, Recode, 22 Aug. 2018
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After a show trial, Khodorkovsky was sent to prison, while the state seized control of his by-then-profitable oil company, Yukos.
—David Klion, The New Republic, 22 Jan. 2020
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In Stalin's days, which are very much in Russia's living memory, such a designation would have led to a quick show trial and, for the lucky few, a bullet in the back of the head.
—Sam Kiley, CNN, 30 Oct. 2021
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Kara-Murza has likened his prosecution to a Stalinist show trial.
—Francesca Ebel, Washington Post, 13 May 2023
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The court proceedings against her are expected to be a show trial, aimed at instilling fear in others who do not support the invasion.
—Mary Ilyushina, Washington Post, 19 Jan. 2023
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That has led to lengthy unexplained disappearances that often end in show trials.
—Eva Dou, WSJ, 5 Oct. 2018
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Arrested on fraud charges, Khodorkovsky was subjected to a series of show trials and shipped off to a Siberian prison for a decade, his assets seized and sold back via shadow companies to the state.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 31 Aug. 2019
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Held in Vitebsk, the six-day show trial was similar to the medieval disputations with which Jews had contended for centuries.
—Dovid Margolin, WSJ, 2 Sep. 2021
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Sentenced in a 2017 show trial to three years imprisonment, Dr. Cardet was beaten up again and stabbed repeatedly.
—WSJ, 23 Dec. 2020
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Absurd calls for a House show trial to impeach Mayorkas provide a welcome distraction.
—Timothy Noah, The New Republic, 29 Nov. 2022
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He was subsequently convicted in a show trial of violating the terms of his parole during his stay in Germany and sentenced to more than two years in prison.
—New York Times, 1 Mar. 2021
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He was then sentenced to more than 20 years in prison on embezzlement and contempt charges in what international observers dubbed a show trial.
—Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 20 Feb. 2024
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Even in the notorious show trials, designed to prove the legitimacy of the purges to the world, there was a laziness about the regime’s fabrications that revealed their arrogance.
—M.t. Anderson, Slate Magazine, 18 Jan. 2017
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The show trial digs into the accident's cause from the cultural center of the still-dangerously radioactive town of Chernobyl.
—Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY, 26 Apr. 2018
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Several of them have been subjected to show trials and forced to make public confessions to crimes against the state before being sentenced to brutal labor camps.
—BostonGlobe.com, 9 May 2018
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The latest show trial of Hong Kong’s most famous political prisoner will conclude this week.
—Mark L. Clifford and L. Gordon Crovitz, WSJ, 25 Aug. 2022
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In this way, Richard Jewell brings edifying contrast to the current impeachment show trials.
—Armond White, National Review, 13 Dec. 2019
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Otto was put on a show trial and during his 18-month imprisonment, was severely beaten and tortured.
—Eric Shawn, Fox News, 26 Mar. 2023
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He was arrested at the airport, and subsequently convicted in a show trial of violating parole and sentenced to more than two years in prison.
—New York Times, 18 Apr. 2021
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Part of the uproar over Hutchinson’s performance at the January 6 show trial owes to the way Streep has influenced responses to female comportment.
—Armond White, National Review, 6 July 2022
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Russia charged a theater director and a playwright with allegations of justifying terrorism, echoing a show trial for the Master that the film’s creators added to the script.
—Paul Sonne, New York Times, 16 Feb. 2024
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'show trial.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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