fearmongering

American

[feer-mahng-ger-ing] / ˈfɪərˌmɑŋ gər ɪŋ /

noun

the practice or strategy of trying to make people fearful or anxious as a means of manipulating them.

adjective

trying to make people fearful or anxious as a means of manipulating them.

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.

See Examples For:

fearmongering

“These features are there to protect long-term investors from that fearmongering that can go on.”

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 24, 2026

As the scramble has played out, rumors and fearmongering have ricocheted across Wall Street.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026

Worse than the off-label prescribing is the fearmongering.

From Salon ● May 11, 2026

Early in the reign of social media, Messing said, there was much fearmongering about how these digital platforms spelled the death of reading.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2026

No one is more susceptible to an expert’s fearmongering than a parent.

From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023