hatchet job
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English[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
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Noun[edit]
hatchet job (plural hatchet jobs)
- (idiomatic) A journalistic or other treatment which portrays its subject in a very unfavorable manner; a work of criticism which aims to destroy a reputation.
- Synonyms: slam piece, hit piece, traducement, calumny, calumniation, obloquy, defamation
- Antonym: puff piece
- That article about the mayor is nothing more than a hatchet job.
- 2023 January 27, Philip Oltermann, “German critics pan Oscar-nominated All Quiet On the Western Front”, in The Guardian[1], →ISSN:
- Even the tabloid Bild, hardly known as a haven of art-house snobbery, published a hatchet job. “There are good literary adaptations and there are bad ones, and then there is All Quiet on the Western Front by director Edward Berger,” Bild’s critic wrote.
- (idiomatic) An action or a program which imposes deep reductions in expenditure.
- This so-called reform of our wage agreement was really just one big hatchet job!