propaganda
noun
Simple meaning
Information that is spread for the purpose of promoting some cause.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
prahpuhganduhSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
pɹɑpəˈɡændə
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Information that is spread for the purpose of promoting some cause
as a neutral word dated
Agitation, publicity, public communication aimed at influencing an audience and furthering an agenda.
religionhistorical
The propagation of the faith by the Catholic Church by means of missionary work etc.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Information that is spread for the purpose of promoting some cause
Used this way, propaganda is a specialist word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It turns up most in technical or specialist writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Clinical and detached
Where it naturally appears
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use propaganda
- “The government used propaganda to influence public opinion.”
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.