propagandist

1 of 2

noun

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

propagandist

2 of 2

adjective

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

Accompanying text reported the outstanding political and economic achievements of the Party and detailed propagandistic speeches at length.

—Linda Jensen

Yes, this film is propagandist in nature, but is at the same time a documentary.

—Matt Campbell

propagandistically

ˌprä-pə-ˌgan-ˈdi-sti-k(ə-)lē 

ˌprō-

adverb

Examples of propagandist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Heartfield’s 1934 image, used on the front cover of the left-wing Workers’ Illustrated Magazine (Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung) shows Joseph Goebbels, chief Nazi propagandist, as Hitler’s barber. —Lianne Kolirin, CNN Money, 5 Feb. 2026

But several years before Pearl Harbor, Otto and Friedel Kuehn were rising figures in Nazi party when their daughter, 19-year-old Ruth, began an affair with Joseph Goebbels and the Nazi propagandist learned that Ruth’s biological father was Jewish. —The Week Us, TheWeek, 28 Jan. 2026

Adjective

This is deliberate to punish the best news desks at the Pentagon and replace them propagandist pro-regime actors. —Mandy Taheri, Newsweek, 1 Feb. 2025

Stamps are also used for more expressly political or propagandist purposes. —Andrea Valdez, The Atlantic, 28 Apr. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun

borrowed from French propagandiste, from propagande propaganda + -iste -ist entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

1792, in the meaning defined above

Adjective

1824, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for propagandist

• grandest