DEMAGOGUES Synonyms: 46 Similar and Opposite Words

demagogues

noun

variants also demagogs

plural of demagogue

as in agitators

a person who stirs up public feelings especially of discontent that politician is just a demagogue who preys upon people's fears and prejudices

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of demagogues Leftist demagogues specialize in lose-lose-lose policies. —

Editorial, Boston Herald, 6 Apr. 2026 Certainly Arendt, who lived through arguably darker times, did not see them as merely a product of the era’s monstrous demagogues. —

Christine Smallwood, Harpers Magazine, 24 Mar. 2026 Following the outbreak of COVID-19, bias incidents and assaults against Asian Americans soared to alarming heights as demagogues on the streets and in high office inflamed xenophobic fear and animosity. —

Literary Hub, 16 Mar. 2026 In the long term, this failure to address deep social problems contributes to the erosion of people’s trust in governments and institutions, breeding nihilism and an attraction to demagogues who claim to have easy answers. —

Rob Wolfe, The Atlantic, 19 Feb. 2026 Without a robust legitimacy narrative, demagogues fill the vacuum. —

Annelise Riles, Chicago Tribune, 4 Feb. 2026 In turn, the erosion of trust has weakened the social contract that sustains representative government, leaving democracies more vulnerable to populist demagogues, institutional paralysis, and the gradual normalization of authoritarian alternatives. —

Nic Cheeseman, Foreign Affairs, 16 Dec. 2025 Studies show that as a result of these cycles, Americans on the left and right have developed an exaggerated sense of the other side’s hostility, exactly as some political demagogues intend. —

Adam G. Klein, The Conversation, 12 Nov. 2025 Our shrinking attention span has left us vulnerable to demagogues and misinformation from every direction. —

Doug McIntyre, Oc Register, 31 Aug. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for demagogues

Noun

The Lightning were without Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli, two of the main agitators from the first matchup.

— Matthew Fairburn, New York Times, 7 Apr. 2026
Columbia students, along with outside agitators, broke into an academic building and temporarily detained the janitors inside.

— Rose Horowitch, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2026