How to Use demagogue in a Sentence

demagogue

1 of 2 noun
  • His opponent called him a bigoted demagogue.
  • Two plus two equals four whether a child says so or a demagogue denies it.
    — Anchorage Daily News, 25 Feb. 2018
  • To suggest otherwise was to be slapped down as a rank demagogue of the worse kind.
    — Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, 11 June 2019
  • Who knew prayer and protest couldn’t coexist with respect to dealing with a demagogue?
    — Michael Arceneaux, The Root, 3 Oct. 2017
  • The past century has been, sometimes for the better but more often for the worse, the era of the demagogue.
    — Frederick Taylor, WSJ, 21 July 2017
  • The most fervent devotees of a cult or demagogue are those who mistake courtship for love and the power of a leader for their own.
    — Greg Jackson, Harper's magazine, 6 Jan. 2020
  • Does the rise of right-wing demagogues offer chilling parallels to the Pinochet era?
    — Christopher Vourlias, Variety, 22 Apr. 2026
  • The world-class demagogue from Tabasco, who thrives on nationalism, now has the bit in his mouth.
    — Mary Anastasia O’Grady, WSJ, 21 Feb. 2021
  • But the next incarnation of a digital demagogue may not emerge in public view.
    — Owen Thomas, SFChronicle.com, 13 Jan. 2021
  • But this time, the despot, the demagogue, and the war-crimes advocate had something unusual in common.
    — William Saletan, Slate Magazine, 20 Sep. 2017
  • Is Willie Stark a redneck demagogue who regularly flouts the rule of law?
    — Michael Dirda, WSJ, 23 Oct. 2020
  • Cheney was a patriot and a technocrat, not a demagogue.
    — Max Boot, Foreign Affairs, 5 Nov. 2025
  • What Kelly is, though, is a pretty blond white woman who exists in the era of a racist demagogue president.
    — Michael Arceneaux, The Root, 5 June 2017
  • Because huge shocks to the system tend to empower either a) bold problem solvers or b) populist demagogues.
    — Matt K. Lewis, Twin Cities, 19 Aug. 2025
  • Any future populist demagogue who finds his way into the White House will have access to the same power.
    — Matthew Yglesias, Vox, 17 Aug. 2018
  • The base rhetoric of populist demagogues around the world is terrifyingly simple.
    — Laurence Scott, Wired, 28 Mar. 2020
  • 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
  • That’s in no way a movement that could sweep the midterms and then be harnessed by a charismatic demagogue to remake an entire political party.
    — Emily Zemler, Rolling Stone, 21 Oct. 2025
  • That’s in no way a movement that could sweep the midterms and then be harnessed by a charismatic demagogue to remake an entire political party.
    — Natalie Oganesyan, Deadline, 20 Oct. 2025
  • The notion of a pandemic for many involved in the film about a fringe blogger-turned-demagogue seemed like a distant possibility back then.
    — Chronicle Staff, San Francisco Chronicle, 18 Feb. 2021
  • In the age of mass media, a skilled demagogue like Rhodes can rise to great heights and defy any easy moral arc as long as the public continues to sit back and enjoy the show.
    — Jake Tapper, The Atlantic, 8 Oct. 2020
  • But that was a lot of explaining to get to the exact same conclusion, that the Black Heretic is a selfish, rotten demagogue.
    — Devon Maloney, Vulture, 24 Apr. 2021
  • The checks and balances that populists decry are reasonably effective in most rich countries and will outlast the current crop of demagogues.
    — The Economist, 24 Feb. 2018
  • After all, this was the man who taught an entire generation that the truth can’t prevent a demagogue from getting his way, a lesson that is once again pertinent.
    — New York Times, 8 May 2018
  • DeMent’s attempts to expose Evangelists sinks to the same methods as a demagogue’s.
    — Armond White, National Review, 28 Apr. 2023
  • The Chronicle, which had been a mainstream Republican outlet but now went all in on the rabble-rousing demagogue.
    — Gary Kamiya, San Francisco Chronicle, 19 Feb. 2021
  • Lula’s jailing is a blow for Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing demagogue who portrays himself as the antithesis of Lula.
    — The Economist, 8 Apr. 2018
  • Huey Long was maybe the outstanding populist and demagogue of the 20th century in America.
    — Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 4 Mar. 2021
  • Yet this caricature of Jackson as an anti-white, anti-Semitic demagogue never reflected the man.
    — Adam Serwer, The Atlantic, 17 Feb. 2026

demagogue

2 of 2 verb
  • When Rs propose some spending cuts, Ds demagogue it to smithereens.
    — Theodoric Meyer, Washington Post, 13 Jan. 2023
  • If one side proposes something, the other side will demagogue it.
    — Nbc Universal, NBC News, 16 Apr. 2023
  • Don't side with Kamala Harris and liberals who are demagoguing this.
    — Aaron Navarro, CBS News, 27 July 2023
  • With an election coming, advantage goes to those who stayed on the sidelines of the fight and now can demagogue on impossible solutions that would impose no pain and deliver free goodies.
    — Author: Charles Wohlforth | Opinion, Anchorage Daily News, 2 Mar. 2018
  • Reexamining history is painful and requires nuanced public debate -- but is impeded by social media rants, mob scenes and politicians' attempts to demagogue history for their own gain.
    — Stephen Collinson With Caitlin Hu, CNN, 24 June 2020
  • The party seems determined to try to racially demagogue its way back to national power, even as an overwhelming majority of the country applauds the all-too-rare conviction of a white police officer who murdered a Black man.
    — Ankush Khardori, The New Republic, 21 Apr. 2021
  • The move is part of a familiar pattern with Biden of issuing executive actions to satisfy certain constituents, only to demagogue any legal hurdles as coming from a rogue right-wing Supreme Court.
    — The Editors, National Review, 17 Apr. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'demagogue.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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