demagogy
Americannoun
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demagoguery
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rule by a demagogue or by demagogues
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a group of demagogues
Etymology
Origin of demagogy
1645–55; < Greek dēmagōgía leadership of the people, equivalent to dēmagōg ( ós ) demagogue + -ia -y 3
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.
Recognizing this, Masson wrote in 1941, in “Painting is a Wager”: “Towards 1930, five years after the foundation of surrealism, a formidable disaster appeared in its midst: the demagogy of the irrational.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 27, 2025
Mr Aiwanger's blunt style - to fans straight-talking, to critics dangerous demagogy - works well in beer tents and he makes even Bavaria's boisterous premier Markus Söder look stuffy.
From BBC • Oct. 6, 2023
On the other hand, the movie is conspicuously wary of the powers of law enforcement and infused with a fear of demagogy.
From The New Yorker • Dec. 12, 2019
The key ingredient, in both salesmanship and demagogy, is authenticity, or the ability to be true to oneself without being the least bit truthful.
From Slate • May 1, 2016
It is probably true that the greatest danger of our future is the peril of classes, and inseparably connected with classes the menace of demagogy.
From The Young Man and the World by Beveridge, Albert Jeremiah
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.
