propaganda (n.) Look up propaganda at Dictionary.com
1718, "committee of cardinals in charge of Catholic missionary work," short for Congregatio de Propaganda Fide "congregation for propagating the faith," a committee of cardinals established 1622 by Gregory XV to supervise foreign missions. The word is properly the ablative fem. gerundive of Latin propagare (see propagation). Hence, "any movement to propagate some practice or ideology" (1790). Modern political sense dates from World War I, not originally pejorative. Meaning "material or information propagated to advance a cause, etc." is from 1929.
agitprop (n.) Look up agitprop at Dictionary.com
also agit-prop, 1938, from Russian agitatsiya "agitation" (from French agitation; see agitation) + propaganda, from German (see propaganda).
propagandist (n.) Look up propagandist at Dictionary.com
1797, from propaganda + -ist. Related: Propagandistic.
propagandize (v.) Look up propagandize at Dictionary.com
1841, from propaganda + -ize. Related: Propagandized; propagandizing.
communist Look up communist at Dictionary.com
1841, as both a noun and adjective, from French communiste (see communism). First attested in writing by John Goodwin Barmby (1820-1881), British Owenite and utopian socialist who founded the London Communist Propaganda Society in 1841. Main modern sense emerged after publication of Communist Manifesto ("Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei") in 1848. Shortened form Commie attested from 1940. Related: Communistic.
witch hunt (n.) Look up witch hunt at Dictionary.com
1853 in the literal sense (witch-hunting is from 1630s), from witch (n.) + hunt (n.). The extended sense is attested from 1919, American English, later re-popularized in reaction to Cold War anti-Communism.
Senator [Lee S.] Overman. What do you mean by witch hunt?
Mr. [Raymond] Robins. I mean this, Senator. You are familiar with the old witch-hunt attitude, that when people get frightened at things and see bogies, then then get out witch proclamations, and mob action and all kinds of hysteria takes place. ["Bolshevik Propaganda," U.S. Senate subcommittee hearings, 1919]
Hezbollah (n.) Look up Hezbollah at Dictionary.com
extremist Shiite group active in Lebanon, founded c.1982, from Persian hezbollah, Arabic hizbullah, literally "Party of God," from hezb/hizb "party" + allah "God." An adherent is a Hezbollahi. The name of various Islamic groups in modern times, the name itself is attested in English by 1960 in referense to an Indonesian guerilla battalion of 1945 that "grew out of a similarly named organization formed by the Japanese to give training in military drill to young Moslems."
In Modjokuto (like Masjumi itself, Hizbullah was Indonesia-wide but, also like Masjumi, it had little effective central organization) this group was led by the present head of Muhammadijah -- the same man who a year or so before was going to Djakarta for propaganda training and studying to be a kamikaze. [Clifford Geertz, "The Religion of Java," Chicago, 1960]