-baiting

1. a combining form used to describe hate speech and other rhetoric or depictions that target a minoritized group in order to denigrate that group or for the purpose of pitting different identity groups against one another:

   gender-baiting;

   queerbaiting;

   race-baiting.

Word History and Origins

Origin of -baiting¹

First recorded in 1920–25; from bait ( def ) (in the sense “to worry, torment”) + -ing ¹( def ); modeled after Jew-baiting ( def )

Example Sentences

She put Trump on the defensive for much of the night, baiting him into obsessing about crowd sizes at his rallies and fixating on an imagined crisis — Haitian immigrants eating household pets in one Ohio town.

From Los Angeles Times

Too many things are baiting her rage right now: interpersonally, politically, internationally.

From Slate

Huntington Beach Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark, in comments to the Daily Pilot, said she too has had signs vandalized, and then went on to accuse Min of sowing division and “race baiting.”

From Los Angeles Times

The stop will have been made sweeter for Pickford after being given 'the treatment' by Newcastle supporters all game, baiting him with insults for his Sunderland roots.

From BBC

His debate performance was widely criticized, even among Republican allies, who lauded Harris for landing several key insults and baiting Trump into delivering several angry, discursive rants.

From Los Angeles Times