demagogue

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

After Pericles’ death from plague in 429 B.C., rhetorical and political authority is seized by Cleon, an upstart demagogue who is the “most violent person in Athens” and “the most persuasive.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 21, 2025

But he also turned on his vice-president, reposting a comment on X in which she was labelled a "traitor, a demagogue and stupid in economic terms".

From BBC • Jul. 14, 2025

“Parade,” which delves into antisemitism, systemic bias in our judicial system and the power of a wily demagogue to stoke atavistic hatred for self-gain, has a disconcerting timeliness.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 20, 2025

Washington offered the blueprint of the modern demagogue, a Cassandra-like prophecy of executive overreach and populist fervor.

From Slate • Feb. 17, 2025

Statesmen must have breathed much more freely when the demagogue had left London and they were rid for a while, however short, of “his inhuman squint and diabolic grin.”

From The Portsmouth Road and Its Tributaries To-Day and in Days of Old by Harper, Charles G. (Charles George)