rabble-rouser
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of rabble-rouser
First recorded in 1835–45
Explanation
A politician who deliberately tries to get her audience excited and angry can be described as a rabble-rouser. There's a fine line between a rabble-rouser and a great public speaker. A rabble-rouser's highest priority is getting people worked up, especially by appealing to their prejudices and ignorance, with the ultimate goal of his own political support. It's a nineteenth century phrase that combines rouse, or "stir up," with rabble, which originally meant "a pack of animals," and later came to also mean "an unruly mob of people."
Vocabulary lists containing rabble-rouser
Criminal Destiny
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The Davenports
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Activist rabble-rouser Boaz Weinstein has finally gotten his big British victory.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 30, 2026
It’s not that Fennell isn’t good at playing the rabble-rouser, as many have alleged.
From Salon • Feb. 23, 2026
There is some scepticism that the teenage Merz was much of a rabble-rouser.
From BBC • Feb. 8, 2025
Smalls is a decidedly charismatic rabble-rouser in the momentous year “Union” chronicles.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 25, 2024
“This rabble-rouser is part of your family. And there she is. Out there. Rousing the rabble.”
From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
