guilt by association

1. 1.

   the attribution of guilt (without proof) to individuals because the people they associate with are guilty

   Broaderguilt

Questions about guilt by association

What does guilt by association mean?

guilt by association means "the attribution of guilt (without proof) to individuals because the people they associate with are guilty".

Is guilt by association a common word?

guilt by association is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.