In modern language, "witch hunt" does not literally mean "burn them alive because you believe that they have communed with Lucifer". The Crucible set the tone

In modern language, "witch hunt" does not literally mean "burn them alive because you believe that they have communed with Lucifer". The Crucible set the tone when it used literal witch hunts in an allegory about the House Un-American Activities Committee which, among other things, had it's hands in blacklisting people accused of being communists.