Redbait
noun, verb
noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A fish, Emmelichthys nitidus
- 2 Pyura stolonifera, an ascidian often used as bait by anglers.
Verb
- 1 To attack by denouncing as a Communist. US, transitive
"While Jack Kennedy thrived in the 1950s as a sex-crazed, drug-dependent, ailment-ridden party-boy politician, Bobby, the family’s complicated sourpuss, hooked up with the redbaiting Joe McCarthy, then spun off as a crusading and corners-cutting scourge of labor corruption."
Example
More examples"While Jack Kennedy thrived in the 1950s as a sex-crazed, drug-dependent, ailment-ridden party-boy politician, Bobby, the family’s complicated sourpuss, hooked up with the redbaiting Joe McCarthy, then spun off as a crusading and corners-cutting scourge of labor corruption."
Etymology
From red + bait.
More for "redbait"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.