Other Words from demagogue

Noun

demagoguery \ ˈde-mə-ˌgä-g(ə-)rē

\ noun

demagogy \ ˈde-mə-ˌgä-gē

, -ˌgä-jē , -ˌgō-jē \ noun

Did you know?

Noun

When the ancient Greeks used dēmagōgos (from dēmos, meaning "people," and agein, "to lead") they meant someone good-a leader who used outstanding oratorical skills to further the interests of the common people. Mid-17th-century writers such as Thomas Hobbes and John Dryden-and, later, Jonathan Swift-employed the English word that way. But, at the same time, the word took a negative turn, coming to suggest one who uses powers of persuasion to sway and mislead. "A plausible, insignificant word, in the mouth of an expert demagogue, is a dangerous and a dreadful weapon," declared Robert South, known for his sermons, in 1716.

Examples of demagogue in a Sentence

Noun Like other good Whigs, they had assumed that the people, once free of English influence, would honor and elevate the country's true patriots and natural aristocracy in ways that the English Crown had not. But when in the decades following the Revolution the people seemed to succumb to the deceit and flattery of mushroom demagogues, who were the popular counterparts of courtiers, the Federalists became bewildered and bitter. — Gordon S. Wood, Revolutionary Characters, 2006 Before the U.S. could begin to help Haiti rebuild its ravaged democracy last week, it first had to remove a raving demagogue. — Tim Padgett et al., Time, 15 Mar. 2004 Here's the background: Tennessee's finances are a mess. The state is facing a shortfall of some $310 million—but legislators remember what happened last year when they considered imposing the first income tax on wages. Goaded by talk-radio demagogues, hundreds of citizens surrounded the Statehouse in a near riot. — Editor & Publisher, 4 Feb. 2002 His opponent called him a bigoted demagogue. that politician is just a demagogue who preys upon people's fears and prejudices Verb But Clinton's boldness seemed to work, at least within the Beltway. House Republicans mostly stifled the urge to demagogue against his plan. — Tom Morganthau et al., Newsweek, 11 Dec. 1995

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun The farce hinges on a white-supremacist conspiracy to assemble a million-man assault on Washington, where a Jewish President and a Black woman F.B.I. director are in office following the ouster of a golf-playing demagogue, President P. P. Spanky. — Julian Lucas, The New Yorker, 19 July 2021 In fact, a new threat is rising given the still vast political influence of a modern American demagogue. — Stephen Collinson, CNN, 15 July 2021 Stacey Abrams is a failure, anyone who puts Jim Crow and election integrity legislation in the same sentence is a demagogue, and those on the left cower, panic and abandon their values at every turn. — Star Tribune, 16 Apr. 2021 It’s not an aspiring demagogue or a corrupt political party. — Andy Norman, Scientific American, 18 May 2021 With an openly racist demagogue in the White House, the Proud Boys sought to capitalize on the conservative backlash against the progressivism brought about by the Obama administration. — Ej Dickson, Rolling Stone, 15 June 2021 But that was a lot of explaining to get to the exact same conclusion, that the Black Heretic is a selfish, rotten demagogue. — Devon Maloney, Vulture, 24 Apr. 2021 Could records of people’s immune status fall into the hands of a scheming demagogue and be used for authoritarian ends? — James Hamblin, The Atlantic, 9 Apr. 2021 Leaders like Bush, and his father before him, saw the Trump base all along -- the racists keen to latch onto a demagogue, the folks who voted to act out white male resentment rather than promoting their own (or anyone's) best interests. — Jill Filipovic, CNN, 21 Apr. 2021 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb The party seems determined to try to racially demagogue its way back to national power, even as an overwhelming majority of the country applauds the all-too-rare conviction of a white police officer who murdered a Black man. — Ankush Khardori, The New Republic, 21 Apr. 2021 With an election coming, advantage goes to those who stayed on the sidelines of the fight and now can demagogue on impossible solutions that would impose no pain and deliver free goodies. — Author: Charles Wohlforth | Opinion, Anchorage Daily News, 2 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'demagogue.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.