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
All of which may sound like grandiloquent cover for demagogy.
From New York Times • Aug. 26, 2021
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
But two or three generations of demagogy have created a race of corsairs who know every trick and secret of the trade.
From Jean-Christophe Journey's End by Cannan, Gilbert
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.
