poison pen

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

There’s no murder here, but someone is leaving poison-pen letters, repellent drawings and destructive wreckage around the campus; Harriet, drawn back for an alumni weekend, gets pulled into the mystery.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 15, 2019

A college student must prevent an impending disaster when he erroneously sends a poison-pen letter to his girlfriend.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 2, 2019

In a secret location, the chairman of a panel called the 1922 Committee was collecting poison-pen letters from rebels within Mrs. May’s Conservative Party, calling for her to be removed as leader.

From New York Times • Nov. 17, 2018

The tragedy is, modern poison-pen campaigns simply lack charm.

From The Guardian • Jan. 30, 2011

The "poison-pen" puzzle hadn't been exactly easy to solve, and his visit to Washington, though brief, had been sufficiently long for him to absorb some of the nervous excitement which permeated the department.

From On Secret Service Detective-Mystery Stories Based on Real Cases Solved By Government Agents by Taft, William Nelson