poison pen
poison pen noun: a manner, means, or tone of expression had by a written work, characterized by spitefulness, defamation, and/or intimidation directed toward a person, organization, or point of view.
Noun
poison pen (plural poison pens)
- A manner, means, or tone of expression had by a written work, characterized by spitefulness, defamation, and/or intimidation directed toward a person, organization, or point of view.
- Peter Isaacson continued his attack on Hearst and the poison pen of his editors.1936 August 31, “Maine Politics Afield”, in Lewiston Evening Journal, USA, retrieved 27 Aug 2010
- After Mr. Rowland spoke, his wife, Patricia, delivered a spoof on the poem "Twas the Night Before Christmas," that was a stinging sing-song rebuke of the news organizations that had reported on her husband's shortcomings and the widening federal investigation into his administration. Referring to...2003 December 17, Marc Santora, “Rowland Vows to Stay On as Governor”, in New York Times, retrieved 27 Aug 2010
- Of, pertaining to, or possessing such a manner of expression.
- In a fair political fight in which neither side wishes to take unfair advantage of an opponent, last-minute poison-pen circulars should be banned.1938 November 5, “Editorial: Watch Out For The Poison Pen”, in The Afro-American, retrieved 27 Aug 2010, page 4
- This collection of garbage and guilt-by-association was slipped into the files of the White House personnel office last fall. . . . Who was responsible for the poison-pen attack? No one signed it, and no one has taken responsibility.1982 May 25, Anthony Lewis, “The poisoning of the well”, in St. Petersburg Times, retrieved 27 Aug 2010, page 10A
poison pen meaning in Tamil
poison pen in Tamil
- மொட்டைக் கடிதம்
Examples of poison pen in a sentence
- But the poison pen's power has gone to their head."2003 December 17, Marc Santora, “Rowland Vows to Stay On as Governor”, in New York Times, retrieved 27 Aug 2010:
- Cherie Blair, Geri Halliwell, Sarah Ferguson, Victoria Beckham and Princess Diana all found themselves the subjects of Lee-Potter's poison pen.2004 October 21, Matt Wells, “Lynda Lee-Potter, doyenne of columnists, dies”, in guardian.co.uk, retrieved 27 Aug 2010:
Forms of poison pen
| plural | poison pens |
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Words formed from poison pen
Questions about poison pen
- What does poison pen mean?
- Poison pen means a manner, means, or tone of expression had by a written work, characterized by spitefulness, defamation, and/or intimidation directed toward a person, organization, or point of view.
- What is poison pen in Tamil?
- Poison pen in Tamil is மொட்டைக் கடிதம். See Poison pen meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use poison pen in a sentence?
- But the poison pen's power has gone to their head."
- What part of speech is poison pen?
- Poison pen is a noun.
- What is the plural of poison pen?
- The plural of poison pen is poison pens.
Words near poison pen in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: poison pen (page history and authors); poison pen (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-poison pen.ogg.
Cite this entry: “poison pen.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/poison_pen. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.