psychological warfare

noun

1. the use of propaganda, threats, and other psychological techniques to mislead, intimidate, demoralize, or otherwise influence the thinking or behavior of an opponent.

psychological warfare

noun

1. the military application of psychology, esp to propaganda and attempts to influence the morale of enemy and friendly groups in time of war

Word History and Origins

Origin of psychological warfare¹

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

The unit, innocuously named First Mobile Radio Broadcasting Company, was designed with psychological warfare in mind to spread disinformation and undermine enemy morale.

From The Daily Beast

The Green Berets cover everything from humanitarian assistance to anti-narcotics operations to psychological warfare.

From Ozy

The New Climate War’s main focus is to combat psychological warfare, and on this front, the book is fascinating and often entertaining.

From Science News

TEL AVIV, Israel — Call it psychological warfare gone wrong.

From The Daily Beast

The psychological warfare can also be seen in the patronizing tone Democratic officials are now taking toward the Republicans.

From The Daily Beast

He might be a civilian big-wheel in an Army psychological warfare project, but he still had four newscasts a day to produce.

From Project Gutenberg

It was beginning to look as though the psychological-warfare experiment might show another, unexpected, success.

From Project Gutenberg

His reaction then was that it was all a Wall Street-capitalist plot—'psychological warfare,' he called it.

From Project Gutenberg