Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine or cause.
- noun Material disseminated by the advocates or opponents of a doctrine or cause.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Systematic effort to propagate or win support for a theory or method of action.
- noun A committee of cardinals (Congregation de Propaganda Fide, ‘for propagating the faith’) which has the supervision of foreign missions in the Roman Catholic Church.
- noun Hence Any kind of institution or organization for propagating a new doctrine or system of doctrines, or for proselyting.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A congregation of cardinals, established in 1622, charged with the management of missions.
- noun The college of the Propaganda, instituted by Urban VIII. (1623-1644) to educate priests for missions in all parts of the world.
- noun Hence, any organization or plan for spreading a particular doctrine or a system of principles.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A concerted set of
messages aimed atinfluencing theopinions orbehavior of large numbers of people.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun information that is spread for the purpose of promoting some cause
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Until recently the most famous historical use of the term propaganda made it synonymous with foreign missions.
Introduction to the Science of Sociology Robert Ezra Park 1926
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One of the first big Hollywood stars to play in a Chinese film and promote it, Bale, who won an Oscar this year for his role in "The Fighter", said anyone who used the word propaganda to describe Zhang's film would be wrong.
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph Telegraph Staff 2011
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Thus, originally, the term propaganda was a neutral term.
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Thus, originally, the term propaganda was a neutral term.
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But in this period, the term propaganda just meant information or something like that.
AlterNet.org Main RSS Feed Johann Hari, Independent UK 2009
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But in this period, the term propaganda just meant information or something like that.
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It's no accident that he wants media present at his trial: He has now entered what he calls the propaganda phase of his campaign, in which he imagines he will be given "a stage to the world" through which he can win over "tens of millions of European sympathizers and tens of thousands of brothers and sisters who support us fully and are willing to fight beside us."
What Is Anders Breivik? Bret Stephens 2011
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The local Lib Dem hierarchy believe the propaganda is a deliberate attempt to imply Stephen Powell was caught speeding, rather than his older brother Mike.
Archive 2008-08-01 2008
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When the propaganda is the truth it follows logically that your "truth" is really the propaganda.
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LEVIN: They see themselves as lone wolves operationally, but they see themselves also as part of an umbrella entity of leaderless resistance, where they commit an act of violence, which they call propaganda of the deed.
jmjarmstrong commented on the word propaganda
JM believes that propaganda can be a gentlemanly goose.
August 13, 2011