demagoguery
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of demagoguery
Explanation
Demagoguery is an appeal to people that plays on their emotions and prejudices rather than on their rational side. Demagoguery is a manipulative approach — often associated with dictators and sleazy politicians — that appeals to the worst nature of people. Demagoguery isn't based on reason, issues, and doing the right thing; it's based on stirring up fear and hatred to control people. For example, a politician who stirs up a fear of immigrants to distract from other issues is using demagoguery. Demagoguery is one of the most negative aspects of politics, but it's also one that's all too common.
Vocabulary lists containing demagoguery
We the People: Dem
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dem
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The New Jim Crow
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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.
The word, to most of them, suggested mob rule and demagoguery.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2025
“Too often, half-baked information based on faulty data and assumptions has been the basis of bad policymaking and demagoguery, and the council must demand information that the public can count on,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 7, 2024
He said voters have the wisdom “to banish demagoguery and authoritarianism as they look toward a tomorrow of peace and well-being for all.”
From Washington Times ● Oct. 15, 2023
But this demagoguery didn’t sprout out of nowhere; it was present during the Crossfire years too, just as a sarcastic and even prank-like part of his future persona.
From Slate ● Apr. 25, 2023
This evil breeds another: fickleness in the people means demagoguery in the leader, inevitably.
From The Soul of Democracy The Philosophy of the World War in Relation to Human Liberty by Edward Howard Griggs
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.
