One who spreads real or alleged scandal about another (usually for political advantage).

synonym: mudslinger.

Roget 936: detractor, reprover; censor, censurer; cynic, critic, caviler, carper, word-catcher, frondeur; barracker^†.    defamer, backbiter, slanderer, Sir Benjamin Backbite, lampooner, satirist, traducer, libeler, calumniator, dawplucker^†, Thersites^†; Zoilus; good-natured friend [Iron.]; reviler, vituperator, castigator; shrew etc. 901; muckraker.    disapprover, laudator temporis acti [Lat.] [Horace]. ... show more