ochlagogy

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Ochl- (mob-) (from Ancient Greek ὄχλος (ókhlos, mob)) + -agogy (-leading, -leadership), on the pattern of demagogy.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

ochlagogy (uncountable)

  1. (rare) Manipulation of a mob by use of inflammatory rhetoric, casting opprobrium, and by appeal to the lowest common denominator generally; extreme and wholly unscrupulous demagogy; the practice of an ochlagogue.
    • 1962: Cecil John Ellington and A. G. Russell of the Classical Association (Great Britain), Greece and Rome, “Peripatos: The Athenian Philosophical Scene — II”, page 21 (The Clarendon Press)
      One can imagine what Epicurus would have thought of the ochlagogy of Herodes Atticus and his contemporaries, and the noisy demonstrations which it evoked.

Related terms[edit]