propaganda, n. meanings, etymology and more | Oxford English Dictionary
Revised 2007 More entries for "propaganda"

propagandanoun

  1. 1.
    1679–
    Roman Catholic Church. Usually with the. (a) More fully Congregation of (the) Propaganda. A committee of Cardinals responsible for foreign missions, founded in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV (officially known since 1967 as the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples); (b) (more fully College of (the) Propaganda) a college established in Rome in 1627 by Pope Urban VIII for the training of missionaries. Now historical.
    1. [1668
      This same round pile of building like a Pigeon-house is his Chappel of Ease,..and observe it is the exact Antipodes of the propaganda fide at Rome.
      T. St. Serfe, Tarugo's Wiles iii. 22]
    2. 1679
      And that the Roman Propaganda may not rise up in the Great Audit, against the Governours of the Reformed Church, they should be no less solicitous for it.
      Bishop J. Gordon, Reformed Bishop ii. 31
    3. 1718
      The Congregation of the Propaganda gives them at present but twenty five Roman Crowns a Man.
      J. Ozell, translation of J. Pitton de Tournefort, Voyage into Levant vol. II. 237
    4. 1766
      I sent by the French post, enclosed to Dr. Howard, a letter from Propaganda to Bishop Challoner.
      C. Stonor in E. H. Burton, Life Bishop Challoner (1909) vol. II. xxvii. 84
    5. 1819
      An Italian missionary of the Propaganda.
      T. Hope, Anastasius (1820) vol. I. ix. 168
    6. 1869
      Propaganda is working day and night to clear off its affairs.
      W. B. Ullathorne, Letter 2 December in C. Butler, Vatican Council (1930) vol. I. ix. 160
    7. 1880
      He is of the Syriac United Church, and was educated at the Propaganda at Rome.
      Lady A. Blunt, Journal 17 March (1986) 115
    8. 1911
      He discharged the duties of theological professor at the College of Propaganda.
      Catholic Encyclopedia vol. XII. 169/2
    9. 1957
      It was not until 6 June 1622 that Gregory XV created the Congregation of Propaganda by the bull ‘Inscrutabili Divinæ’.
      F. L. Cross, Oxford Dictionary of Christian Church 1112/1
    10. 1998
      In 1833 he attended the College of the Propaganda in Rome, where he distinguished himself in languages.
      B. L. Bassham, C. W. Chapman ix. 167
  2. 2.
    1790–
    An organization, scheme, or movement for the propagation of a particular doctrine, practice, etc.
    1. 1790
      All Kings have..a new race of Pretenders to contend with, the disciples of the propaganda at Paris or, as they call themselves, Les Ambassadeurs de genre humain.
      J. MacPherson, Letter 27 September in A. Aspinall, Corresp. George, Prince of Wales (1964) vol. II. 98
    2. 1800
      We have thrown some useful light upon the Illuminati of Connecticut and Massachusetts, and lately upon a similar propaganda in Delaware State.
      Aurora (Philadelphia) 17 April
    3. 1879
      It seems unlikely that Saul should at once have been able to substitute a propaganda for an inquisition.
      F. W. Farrar, Life & Work of St. Paul vol. I. iii. xi. 208
    4. 1908
      The entire attitude..of such books..seems to me unrelated to the procedure by which science expands, and seems affiliated to what is often termed a propagandum.
      Journal of Philosophy, Psychology & Scientific Methods vol. 5 251
    5. 1946
      All these parties and isms and propagandums make me tired.
      J. Cary, Moonlight 273
    6. 1963
      The garrison troops in Petrograd had been exposed to many competing propagandas.
      E. Taylor, Fall of Dynasties xiv. 263
    7. 2001
      The different propagandas of war and rampantly optimistic consumerism were being shovelled down audiences' throats.
      Sunday Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 28 October 18
  3. 3.
    1822–
    The systematic dissemination of information, esp. in a biased or misleading way, in order to promote a particular cause or point of view, often a political agenda. Also: information disseminated in this way; the means or media by which such ideas are disseminated. Cf. black propaganda n.
    1. 1822
      I think you have done well positively to decline any interference with their propagandâ purposes.
      T. Carlyle, Letter 7 December in Collected Letters T. & Jane Welsh Carlyle (1970) vol. II. 224
    2. 1842
      The propaganda fund shall be devoted to the propagation of the doctrines of communism.
      Communist Chronicle & Communitarian Apostle vol. I. v. 77
    3. 1875
      The literary propaganda of Mazzinianism.
      P. K. O'Clery, Hist. Italian Revol. v. 165
    4. 1886
      Future history resolved itself, for them, into the propaganda and the practical realization of their peculiar social plans.
      translation of K. Marx & F. Engels Manifesto Communists iii. 27
    5. 1908
      The Church..soon felt a need of new methods of propaganda and government.
      A. L. Lilley & G. Tyrrell, translation of Programme of Modernism 102
    6. 1911
      Though we tolerate..the propaganda of Anarchism as a political theory..we clearly cannot..tolerate assassination of rulers on the ground that it is ‘propaganda by deed’ or sociological experiment.
      G. B. Shaw, Shewing-up Blanco Posnet Preface in Doctor's Dilemma 324
    7. 1929
      The term propaganda has not the sinister meaning in Europe which it has acquired in America... In European business offices the word means advertising or boosting generally.
      G. Seldes, You can't print That! 427
    8. 1938
      Where a certain practical activity is stimulated as expedient, that which stimulates it is advertisement or (in the current modern sense, not the old sense) propaganda.
      R. G. Collingwood, Principles of Art ii. 32
    9. 1957
      The Soviet Government..has an elaborate machinery for conducting such propaganda abroad.
      R. N. C. Hunt, Guide to Communist Jargon 132
    10. 1976
      White propaganda, the truth; gray, a composition of half-truths and distortions; or black, a pack of lies.
      A. J. Russell, Pour Hemlock xiv. 166
    11. 1990
      A central debate is about education as propaganda or as study.
      Times Educational Supplement 15 June B8/5