assassination
/əˌsæsəˈneɪʃən/
noun
- The murder of a famous or important person, especially for political reasons.
- The assassination of the president shocked the entire nation.
- Historians still debate the motives behind the assassination of the archduke.
- The spy novel begins with the assassination of a foreign diplomat.
- A deliberate and sudden attack on someone's character or reputation.
- The article was less a critique and more a full-scale assassination of his reputation.
- Spreading false rumors about her was a clear case of character assassination.
- The politician faced a character assassination in the media during the campaign.