red herring
noun
Did you know?
Believe it or not, red herring has as much to do with hunting dogs as with brightly colored fish. Here's how: A herring is a soft-finned bony fish. People who like to eat herring have long preserved them by salting and slowly smoking them. That process makes a herring turn red or dark brown—and gives them a very strong smell. Dogs love to sniff such smelly treats, a fact that makes the fish a perfect diversion for anyone trying to distract hunting dogs from the trail of their quarry. The practice of using preserved fish to confuse hunting dogs led to the use of the term red herring for anything that diverts attention from the issue at hand.
Examples of red herring in a Sentence
Rachel Schilke, The Washington Examiner, 11 Oct. 2025
The mystery is less about who’s involved in the game afoot, as alert audiences piecing together context clues will be immediately aware of those nefarious parties upon their introductions, and is more about the puzzling lengths the filmmakers go to in planting contrived red herrings.
—Courtney Howard, Variety, 9 Oct. 2025
There will also be red herrings to throw players off the case.
—Alex Weprin, HollywoodReporter, 7 Oct. 2025
The red herring is a distraction.
—NBC news, 5 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for red herring
Cite this Entry
“Red herring.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/red%20herring. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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