dog whistle

noun

variants or less commonly dog-whistle

ˈdȯg-ˈ(h)wi-səl 

1

: a whistle to call or direct a dog

especially : one sounding at a frequency inaudible to the human ear

2

politics : an expression or statement that has a secondary meaning intended to be understood only by a particular group of people

Democrats and liberals sometimes have gone to ridiculous lengths to portray speech by Republicans and conservatives as dog whistles responsible for inciting unstable people to carry out violent acts …

—The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch

… habitually inserts dog-whistles into his speeches to motivate evangelical voters.

—The Economist

—often used before another noun

That is the fundamental perversity of 'dog whistle politics', whereby political parties send coded messages that will be heard one way by their core supporters and another way altogether by others.

—Robert E. Goodin

Examples of dog whistle in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This is all just a roundabout way of saying that Playhouse was, in a sense, music to my ears — a dog whistle that snapped me to attention. —Tom Gliatto, People.com, 24 May 2025

These dog whistles only lead to more confusion, allowing people to point to the absence of immediately obvious bigotry to claim she’s being unfairly maligned. —Aja Romano, Vox, 18 Apr. 2025

The derided acronym — DEI — switched from being a dog whistle into shorthand for values most of us respect, and that many families embody everyday simply through their complicated, varied existences. —Anita Chabria, Los Angeles Times, 13 Aug. 2024

The nationwide campaign against DEI, inspired in large by Trump himself, is a shrieking dog whistle to a MAGA subset that wants only a white man’s world. —Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun Sentinel Editorial Boards, Orlando Sentinel, 28 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1801, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for dog whistle

• bristle
• fissile
• gristle
• missal
• missile
• nissl
• thistle
• abyssal
• dismissal
• epistle