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usually uncountable, plural McCarthyisms
(derogatory) The mass pressure, harassment, and/or blacklisting used to pressure people to follow popular political beliefs, especially as opposed to communism. examples
The intense opposition to, and fear and suspicion of, Communism, particularly in the United States during the 1950s. quotations examples
An important symptom of the difference between McCarthyism and Birchism is the shift in the geographical center of gravity.
1964, Daniel Bell, The Radical Right, page 234