poison-pen

[ poi-zuhn-pen ]

adjective

1. composed or sent maliciously, as a letter, usually anonymously and for the purpose of damaging another's reputation or happiness:

   The newspaper received a poison-pen letter alleging that the mayor was misusing city funds.

2. characterized by or given to the sending of poison-pen letters:

   a poison-pen campaign; a poison-pen writer.

Word History and Origins

Origin of poison-pen¹

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

The film declares up front, “This is more true than you’d think,” and indeed, during the years after the World War I, a poison-pen scandal in an English seaside town turned filthy language into national news.

From Los Angeles Times

In the report, Ms. Waxman wrote that Mr. Penske had gotten fed up with Ms. Finke’s habit of sending “poison-pen emails berating sources over scoops she lost to competitors,” including The Wrap.

From New York Times

In the report, Ms. Waxman wrote that Mr. Penske had gotten fed up with Ms. Finke’s habit of sending “poison-pen emails berating sources over scoops she lost to competitors,” including The Wrap.

From New York Times

There’s something instructive in that failure, and it speaks to the raging confusion, verging on incoherence, at the heart of “Babylon” — namely, its insistence on being both a poison-pen letter and a valentine, a decadent celebration and a politically conscious corrective.

From Los Angeles Times

"I have found myself on the receiving end of the two types of behavior Donald Trump exhibits toward reporters: his relentless desire to hold the media's gaze, and his poison-pen notes and angry statements in response to coverage," Haberman wrote.

From Salon