McCarthyism

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Irish Mac Carthaighbor.

English McCarthy

Proto-Indo-European *-id-

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti

Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō

Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)

Proto-Indo-European *-mos

Proto-Indo-European *-mós

Ancient Greek -μός (-mós)

Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der.

English -ism

English McCarthyism

From McCarthy +‎ -ism, named after United States Senator Joseph McCarthy. Originates from a 1950 Washington Post political cartoon by Herbert Block.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /məˈkɑː.θi.ɪzəm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /məˈkɑɹ.θi.ɪzəm/

Noun

McCarthyism (usually uncountable, plural McCarthyisms)

1. (derogatory) The mass pressure, harassment, and/or blacklisting used to pressure people to follow popular political beliefs, especially as opposed to communism.
   • 2024 November 17, Carole Cadwalladr, “How to survive the broligarchy: 20 lessons for the post-truth world”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 November 2024:

     This is McMuskism: it’s McCarthyism on steroids, political persecution + Trump + Musk + Silicon Valley surveillance tools. It’s the dawn of a new age of political witch-hunts, where burning at the stake meets data harvesting and online mobs.

Translations

mass pressure

• Catalan: cacera de bruixes f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 麥卡錫主義 / 麦卡锡主义 (zh) (Màikǎxīzhǔyì)

• Dutch: mccarthyisme n
• German: Blockwartmentalität f
• Greek: μακαρθισμός (el) m (makarthismós)
• Polish: maccartyzm (pl) m

Proper noun

McCarthyism

1. The intense opposition to, and fear and suspicion of, Communism, particularly in the United States during the 1950s.

   Hypernym: anticommunism

   • 1964, Daniel Bell, The Radical Right, page 234:

     An important symptom of the difference between McCarthyism and Birchism is the shift in the geographical center of gravity.

Translations

intense opposition to Communism

• Belarusian: макарці́зм (makarcízm)
• Catalan: maccarthisme m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 麥卡錫主義 / 麦卡锡主义 (zh) (Màikǎxīzhǔyì)

• Dutch: mccarthyisme n
• Finnish: mccarthyismi
• French: maccarthysme (fr) m
• Georgian: მაკარტიზმი (maḳarṭizmi)
• German: McCarthyismus (de) m
• Greek: μακαρθισμός (el) m (makarthismós)
• Italian: maccartismo (it) m
• Japanese: マッカーシズム (ja) (makkāshizumu)
• Polish: maccartyzm (pl) m
• Portuguese: macartismo m, macarthismo m
• Russian: маккарти́зм (ru) m (makkartízm)
• Spanish: macartismo (es) m, macarthismo m, maccarthismo m, mccarthismo m
• Vietnamese: chủ nghĩa McCarthy

Derived terms

• McMuskism

Related terms

• McCarthyist
• McCarthyistic
• McCarthyite
• McCarthyesque

See also

• witch-hunt