Dictionary

dog-whistly en · ADJ

Etymology

From dog whistle + -y.

Meanings

1. (informal) Of, relating to, or characteristic of dog-whistle politics.
   • While there are reasons to complain about fireworks—they're loud, they can hurt people and cause fires—the tenor of the collective complaint becomes racialized and dog-whistly, spiked with cries for "law and order." 2022, Jeremiah Moss, Feral City: On Finding Liberation in Lockdown New York, unnumbered page:
   • But the difference between the "bimbo ad" (which was also a Republican production) and the McCain advert is that the former was explicit in its miscegenation message, whereas the latter is more, well, dog-whistly. 2008 August 1, Melissa McEwan, “McCain blows the dog whistle”, in The Guardian:
   • The dog-whistley Make America Great Again has given us Donald J. Trump, the great white hope, undoer of all-things-Obama. 2018, Dana Andersen, "Letter: Dems ‘blew it’ alright", Post Independent (Glenwood Springs, CO), 20 February 2018

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