muckrake
muckrake Lexical Profile
muckrake Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To search for and expose real or alleged corruption, scandal, or wrongdoing, especially in politics, business, or public life.
"Early twentieth-century journalists began to muckrake in order to expose unsafe working conditions in meatpacking plants."
• noun
A rake or similar agricultural implement used for gathering and clearing away dung, manure, or filth.
"The stablehand used a heavy iron muckrake to clear the soiled straw from the stalls."
• Rhymes for muckrake
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in its figurative political sense in 1906 by US President Theodore Roosevelt, who alluded to the 'Man with the Muck-rake' in John Bunyan's 1678 allegory The Pilgrim's Progress—a character so fixated on raking up earthly filth that he never looked up toward a celestial crown.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.