agitprop
Americannoun
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agitation and propaganda, especially for the cause of communism.
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Often Agitprop an agency or department, as of a government, that directs and coordinates agitation and propaganda.
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Also agitpropist. a person who is trained or takes part in such activities.
adjective
noun
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(often capital) (formerly) a bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, in charge of agitation and propaganda on behalf of Communism
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any promotion, as in the arts, of political propaganda, esp of a Communist nature
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( as modifier )
agitprop theatre
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Etymology
Origin of agitprop
First recorded in 1930–35; from Russian Agitpróp, originally for Agitatsiónno-propagandístskiĭ otdél “Agitation Propaganda Section” (of the Central Committee, or a local committee, of the Communist Party); subsequently the head of such a section, or in compound names of political education organs, as agitpropbrigáda, etc.
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.
Perhaps an exhibition could explore Jewish artists wrestling with their traditions, but here these objects land like leaden agitprop.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 16, 2025
Art as propaganda works both ways, and agitprop will likely follow from activist artists in the next few years.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 15, 2024
I also thought of Larry Kramer, whose plays were pleas: agitprop and artistry pulped into something new.
From New York Times • Apr. 23, 2023
His feature “Sympathy for the Devil,” filmed in 1968 and released in 1970, alternates scenes of Black power revolutionaries and Maoist agitprop with lengthy shots of the Rolling Stones recording the title song.
From Washington Post • Sep. 13, 2022
My professor, Linda Heywood, was slight and bespectacled, spoke with a high Trinidadian lilt that she employed like a hammer against young students like me who confused agitprop with hard study.
From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
