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marked man, a

marked man, a idiom

Also, marked woman. A person singled out as an object of suspicion, hostility, or vengeance. For example, As a witness to the robbery, he felt he was a marked man, or After her fiasco at the meeting, she was a marked woman—no one would hire her. This idiom was first recorded in 1833.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.