witch-hunting

plural witch-huntings

1. countablehistoricaluncountableAn engagement in a witch-hunt; searching for witches or for evidence against them.

   Witch-hunting became a mania, with all the abuses and excesses which invariably develop with fanaticism.

   1965, Attila Zohar, Kings Cross Black Magic, Sydney: Horwitz Publications, page 88

   1 more example

   Witch-hunting has often been prominent both in revolutionary movements which directly opposed and helped to end colonialism or white supremacy, and in the successor states, under native regimes, which emerged out of the former colonies.

   2017, Ronald Hutton, The Witch, Yale University Press, published 2018, page 29

2. countableuncountableAn engagement in a political witch-hunt; unjust or ideologically motivated persecution.

   Noble had accused the Rugby Football League of "an element of witch-hunting" before accompanying Fielden to his disciplinary hearing, which he admitted was "disruptive" in cup final week.

   2003, Andy Wilson, The Guardian, 24 April

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of witch-hunt