noun

• A plan to discredit a public figure by making false accusations.

  ‘He accused the Labor councillor and her colleagues of planning a smear campaign against him to hurt the Balance Team - a claim the councillor denies.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Well, Senator Kerry had to respond to these scurrilous attacks on his character as a smear campaign.’
  • ‘His write up in the newspaper smells of political witch-hunt and a political smear campaign.’
  • ‘He said it would be ‘quite incorrect’ to describe anything as a smear campaign unless it was based on publication of false information.’
  • ‘The owner of a Manchester curry house - said to be the biggest in the country - has published an open letter to refute allegations made in a e-mail smear campaign.’

  Synonyms

  libel, slander, character assassination, defamation of character, calumny, vilification, traducement, obloquy, scandal, scandalmongering, malicious gossip, tittle-tattle, backbiting, aspersions, muckraking, abuse, malediction