red herring

red her·ring

R r

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- [red her-ing]
- /rɛd ˈhɛr ɪŋ/
- /red ˈher.ɪŋ/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [red her-ing]
- /rɛd ˈhɛr ɪŋ/

Definitions of red herring words

noun red herring a smoked herring. 1
noun red herring something intended to divert attention from the real problem or matter at hand; a misleading clue. 1
noun red herring Also called red-herring prospectus. Finance. a tentative prospectus circulated by the underwriters of a new issue of stocks or bonds that is pending approval by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: so called because the front cover of such a prospectus must carry a special notice printed in red. 1
noun red herring any similar tentative financial prospectus, as one concerning a pending or proposed sale of cooperative or condominium apartments. 1
noun red herring sth deliberately misleading 1
noun red herring sth drawing attention from main issue 1

See all 12 definitions of red herring

Information block about the term

Origin of red herring

First appearance:

before 1375

One of the 22% oldest English words

late Middle English word dating back to 1375-1425

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Red herring

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Red herring

red herring popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 39% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.

According to our data about 71% of words is more used. This is a rare but used term. It occurs in the pages of specialized literature and in the speech of educated people.

red herring usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for red herring

noun red herring

camouflage — Camouflage consists of things such as leaves, branches, or brown and green paint, which are used to make it difficult for an enemy to see military forces and equipment.
cleanup — A cleanup is the removing of dirt, pollution, crime, or corruption from somewhere.
concealment — Concealment is the state of being hidden or the act of hiding something.
cop-out — an act or instance of copping out; reneging; evasion: The governor's platform was a cop-out.
copout — an act or instance of copping out; reneging; evasion: The governor's platform was a cop-out.

All 23 Synonyms of red herring