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
It’s incumbent on its leadership to account for the failures and betrayals that led to this, and find a better way to address them than the demagogy on offer.
From New York Times ● May 3, 2016
The Sausage Seller who aspired to be Cleon's rival, in The Knights of Aristophanes, expounds the whole art of demagogy in his prayer: Ye influential impudential powers Of sauciness and jabber, slang and jaw!
From The Book of This and That by Robert Lynd
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.
