damn by association

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

To be discredited due to one's connection to someone or something unpopular

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Mất uy tín do liên quan đến người hoặc điều gì đó không được ưa chuộng

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: to condemn by being associated
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The politician was damned by association with the scandalous businessman

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “damn by association” mean?

To be discredited due to one's connection to someone or something unpopular Literally: to condemn by being associated

Is “damn by association” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.