pro·pa·gan·dist
ˌprä-pə-ˈgan-dist 
ˌprō-
plural propagandists
: someone who produces or spreads propaganda : a person who spreads ideas, facts, or allegations deliberately to further a cause or to damage an opposing cause
left-wing/right-wing propagandists
From the mid-1860s on through the 1870s, Jesse had the help of a propagandist, a former Confederate major named John Newman Edwards, who switched to journalism and did all he could to promote Jesse as a kind of rebel knight errant.—
Larry McMurtry
Larry McMurtry
variants
or propagandistic
ˌprä-pə-ˌgan-ˈdi-stik
ˌprō-
: of, relating to, or being propaganda : characterized by ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further a cause or to damage an opposing cause
propagandist rhetoric
propagandistic art
"… I like Jacques-Louis David a lot, too, although he was a propagandist painter. …"—Bob Dylan
Bob DylanAccompanying text reported the outstanding political and economic achievements of the Party and detailed propagandistic speeches at length.—Linda Jensen
Linda JensenYes, this film is propagandist in nature, but is at the same time a documentary.—Matt Campbell
Matt CampbellExamples of propagandist in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the WebFrancesca Ebel, Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2024
Last year, pro-Russian propagandists used Cameo videos to falsely depict celebrities including Elijah Wood, Mike Tyson, and Priscilla Presley urging Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to seek help for addiction.
—Shannon Bond, NPR, 27 Feb. 2024
Russian and Chinese propagandists are amplifying these messages to drive a wedge between Washington and the developing world.
—Hal Brands, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024
Putin, who has previously showered former President Donald Trump with praise, appeared to endorse President Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election during an interview with a Russian propagandist reporter.
—Kimberlee Speakman, Peoplemag, 15 Feb. 2024
Online propagandists targeted voters with falsehoods in the weeks and months ahead of Saturday’s pivotal election, creating scores of fake accounts and promoting a fictional tell-all book slamming Taiwan’s outgoing president.
—Kevin Collier, NBC News, 13 Jan. 2024
Furious, the state and its propagandists got to work.
—Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 1 Apr. 2024
Fulminating on state television, one of Russia’s most prominent propagandists, Vladimir Solovyov, demanded to know how Lockshin had been allowed to make the movie.
—Paul Sonne, New York Times, 16 Feb. 2024
Many were planted by Axis propagandists, but others appear to have originated with everyday citizens, frequently arising out of their anxieties, suspicions, prejudices or simple misunderstandings.
—Greg Daugherty, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 Mar. 2024
Caitlin McFall, Fox News, 24 May 2022
Feeding a global market The propagandist war of words has mainly focused on the impact on vulnerable populations in the Global South.
—Fred Weir, The Christian Science Monitor, 18 July 2023
Anything but apolitical, Reagan-era action flicks like First Blood (1982) and Top Gun (1986) are too frankly propagandist to be allegories.
—J. Hoberman, The New Republic, 22 June 2023
The effect is chilling, with denunciations strongly encouraged by the state and news of arrests and prosecutions amplified by propagandist commentators on federal television stations and Telegram channels.
—Robyn Dixon, Washington Post, 27 May 2023
Karsten, who is also the department chair of anthropology at UW-Oshkosh, equated this week's invasions to the 1930s build-up to World War II, when Nazi Germany twisted the history of ethnic Germans living in Sudetenland, propagandist campaigns that led to the annexation of Czechoslovakia.
—Natalie Eilbert, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 24 Feb. 2022
Despite Putin’s efforts to restrict rights, his ability to control the narrative in Russia through propagandist tools has paid off.
—Caitlin McFall, Fox News, 1 Sep. 2022
To read or view the manipulative domestic coverage of the assault on Ukraine is to walk through a looking glass into a propagandist world of Russian heroes and Ukrainian nationalist villains.
—Washington Post, 8 Mar. 2022
Instead, the Chinese film industry is taking a more populist and propagandist direction that is less attractive to overseas festivals.
—Patrick Frater, Variety, 3 Sep. 2021
Noun
Pictures of a mother clutching her baby, a young family cowering in a bomb shelter, and heroic Russian soldiers recall images of World War II, which Russian propagandists routinely use to legitimize the current conflict.
—Francesca Ebel, Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2024
Last year, pro-Russian propagandists used Cameo videos to falsely depict celebrities including Elijah Wood, Mike Tyson, and Priscilla Presley urging Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to seek help for addiction.
—Shannon Bond, NPR, 27 Feb. 2024
Russian and Chinese propagandists are amplifying these messages to drive a wedge between Washington and the developing world.
—Hal Brands, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024
Putin, who has previously showered former President Donald Trump with praise, appeared to endorse President Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election during an interview with a Russian propagandist reporter.
—Kimberlee Speakman, Peoplemag, 15 Feb. 2024
Online propagandists targeted voters with falsehoods in the weeks and months ahead of Saturday’s pivotal election, creating scores of fake accounts and promoting a fictional tell-all book slamming Taiwan’s outgoing president.
—Kevin Collier, NBC News, 13 Jan. 2024
Furious, the state and its propagandists got to work.
—Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 1 Apr. 2024
Fulminating on state television, one of Russia’s most prominent propagandists, Vladimir Solovyov, demanded to know how Lockshin had been allowed to make the movie.
—Paul Sonne, New York Times, 16 Feb. 2024
Many were planted by Axis propagandists, but others appear to have originated with everyday citizens, frequently arising out of their anxieties, suspicions, prejudices or simple misunderstandings.
—Greg Daugherty, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 Mar. 2024
Adjective
Russia has relied on a litany of propagandist tactics to garner support and shield the reality of the war from its own population.
—Caitlin McFall, Fox News, 24 May 2022
Feeding a global market The propagandist war of words has mainly focused on the impact on vulnerable populations in the Global South.
—Fred Weir, The Christian Science Monitor, 18 July 2023
Anything but apolitical, Reagan-era action flicks like First Blood (1982) and Top Gun (1986) are too frankly propagandist to be allegories.
—J. Hoberman, The New Republic, 22 June 2023
The effect is chilling, with denunciations strongly encouraged by the state and news of arrests and prosecutions amplified by propagandist commentators on federal television stations and Telegram channels.
—Robyn Dixon, Washington Post, 27 May 2023
Karsten, who is also the department chair of anthropology at UW-Oshkosh, equated this week's invasions to the 1930s build-up to World War II, when Nazi Germany twisted the history of ethnic Germans living in Sudetenland, propagandist campaigns that led to the annexation of Czechoslovakia.
—Natalie Eilbert, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 24 Feb. 2022
Despite Putin’s efforts to restrict rights, his ability to control the narrative in Russia through propagandist tools has paid off.
—Caitlin McFall, Fox News, 1 Sep. 2022
To read or view the manipulative domestic coverage of the assault on Ukraine is to walk through a looking glass into a propagandist world of Russian heroes and Ukrainian nationalist villains.
—Washington Post, 8 Mar. 2022
Instead, the Chinese film industry is taking a more populist and propagandist direction that is less attractive to overseas festivals.
—Patrick Frater, Variety, 3 Sep. 2021
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'propagandist.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near propagandist
Cite this Entry
“Propagandist.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/propagandist. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024.
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