Skip to content
ontologydriven
Sign out

Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

poison the well en · VERB

Pronunciation

Etymology

First used figuratively by Catholic philosopher and Doctor of the Church John Henry Newman in his work Apologia Pro Vita Sua (1864), evidently in reference to the wartime tactic of well poisoning.

Meanings

  1. (intransitive) To preemptively raise ad hominem arguments in order to discredit someone.
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see poison, the, well.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
poisoning the well Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
poisoned the well Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
poisoned the well Tense=Past lexicographic
poisons the well Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic

Synonyms

taint the well

Translations (6)

pl argumentować niemerytorycznie (raise ad hominem arguments) · no brønnpissing (raise ad hominem arguments) · fi myrkyttää kaivo (raise ad hominem arguments) · fr empoisonner le puits (raise ad hominem arguments) · cmn 扣帽子 (raise ad hominem arguments) · he הרעיל את הבאר (raise ad hominem arguments)