propaganda
prop-uh-GAN-duh
/ˌprɒp.əˈɡæn.də/
Information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, or nation.
Implies an organized, intentional campaign (often by an institution or government) to sway public opinion.
The story behind the word. In 1622, Pope Gregory XV established the 'Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide' (Sacred Congregation for Propagating the Faith) to spread Catholicism abroad. The Latin gerund 'propaganda'—meaning 'things to be propagated'—was stripped of its religious context in the 19th and 20th centuries to describe state-directed campaigns influencing public opinion.
Word relationships
- disinformation: Disinformation specifically requires false claims, whereas propaganda can use true, selective, or false statements to advance a cause.
- publicity: Publicity seeks to raise general public attention, whereas propaganda aims to shape ideological or political beliefs.
- truth: Truth represents factual reality without ideological bias or manipulative intent.
- impartiality: Impartiality avoids favoring any political doctrine or faction.
Commonly confused with
- misinformation: Misinformation is wrong information shared regardless of intent, while propaganda is an organized effort to advance a specific agenda.
Word family
- propagandist (noun): A person who produces or spreads political propaganda.
- propagandize (verb): To subject a group to propaganda or spread political doctrines.
Collocations
- spread propaganda
- state propaganda
- propaganda campaign
- political propaganda
Idioms & expressions
- propaganda machine
Example sentences
- "All art is propaganda; on the other hand, not all propaganda is art." Literary analysis of political writing (George Orwell, 'Charles Dickens' (1940))
- "The ministry launched a state-sponsored campaign of radio propaganda to convince citizens that foreign allies were enemy agents." Wartime history analysis
Memory hook
PROPAGATE ideas like seeds across a garden to build a PROPAGANDA campaign. Organized messaging designed to shape political minds.
When not to use
Do not use for routine commercial advertising or neutral educational content unless it actively deceives to advance a political agenda.
Fun facts
- The term was originally neutral and honorable within the Catholic Church before acquiring its sinister political sense during World War I.
Related words
Explore more words
disseminate, disinformation, canard, promulgate, campaign, provoke
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