propagandize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to subject to propaganda.
The Foreign Affairs department developed a plan to propagandize enemy countries.
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to propagate or publicize (principles, dogma, etc.) by means of propaganda.
The newspaper was accused of propagandizing state-approved stories rather than providing factual coverage.
verb (used without object)
verb
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(tr) to spread by propaganda
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(tr) to subject to propaganda
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(intr) to spread or organize propaganda
Etymology
Origin of propagandize
First recorded in 1835–45; propagand(a) + -ize
Explanation
To propagandize is to spread biased information that supports a particular political viewpoint. Most governments have been known to propagandize in an attempt to influence the perception (and behavior) of their citizens. A government might propagandize at the start of a war to rally support, and political protesters may propagandize to raise awareness of an issue or inspire others to get involved with their cause. Corporations sometimes propagandize to influence buyers and investors. These groups could print posters and flyers or run radio and TV ads spreading their message. The earliest so-called propagandizing was done by eighteenth century Catholic cardinals whose mission was to "propagate the faith."
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:
“Everywhere you look, there’s branding and advertising. It has the secondary or tertiary effect of causing people to then want to act out and propagandize themselves.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2025
Her work can sometimes feel relentless but her voice, while forceful, is too restrained and witty to harangue or propagandize.
From New York Times ● Jul. 14, 2022
Xi is ready, as expected, to propagandize China’s greatness.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 4, 2022
He is successful at recruiting the red priests to propagandize for him and is clearly moving toward better crime management before the slave masters attempt to sack the city.
From Salon ● May 7, 2019
The British War Office was, too, and made the most of the story to propagandize its tired veterans and its late-drafted youths who had been denied part in war by the sudden Armistice.
From The History of the American Expedition Fighting the Bolsheviki Campaigning in North Russia 1918-1919 by Jahns, Lewis E.
John Stuart Mill’s official defense of the East India Company propagandized such “improvements,” setting a trend for annual government reports on “Moral and Material Progress” in India, which were assembled without consulting Indians.
From Slate ● Mar. 30, 2022
As with any cultural shift, these new rules were propagandized, often by writers like John Dryden, the first Poet Laureate of England.
From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2019
In gorgeous, silvery black-and-white, it’s a rather lovely picture of bravery, and not much different from the propagandized images coming out of Hollywood.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 29, 2017
He said the building had become propagandized and not integrated into the life of the city.
From New York Times ● Jul. 15, 2012
The Bell service ethos worked, and was often propagandized, in a rather saccharine fashion.
From The Hacker Crackdown, law and disorder on the electronic frontier by Sterling, Bruce
Wilson at first sought to stand apart from the propagandizing on both sides, and he waged a 1916 reelection campaign on the ultimately misleading slogan “He Kept Us Out of War.”
From Washington Post ● Nov. 2, 2022
Because it provides both centralization and some degree of anonymity, the Telegram channel format lends itself to the interdependent activities of propagandizing and profiteering.
From Slate ● Oct. 5, 2022
Many dismissed it as lyrical, propagandizing tripe, but for me the warmth, humor and serenity of Varda’s storytelling are hard-earned and anything but simple-minded.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 29, 2019
This is likely because of the demands of dramatic compression rather than any propagandizing on the part of the show’s makers.
From New York Times ● Jan. 23, 2018
After a dangerous illness, which brought him to death's door, he did obtain his dismissal from the Jesuit order in April 1639, and went over France propagandizing.
From The Life of John Milton, Volume 5 (of 7), 1654-1660 by Masson, David
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.
