Definitions for useful idiot
use·ful id·iot

WiktionaryRate this definition:1.0 / 1 vote

1. useful idiotnoun

   Soviet sympathizer in Western countries, from the perspective of the political right.

2. useful idiotnoun

   One who is seen to unwittingly support a malignant cause through their 'naive' attempts to be a force for good.

3. Etymology: The earliest known usage in Western media is in a 1948 article in the social-democratic Italian paper L'Umanita - as cited in the New York Times article on Italian politics.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Useful idiot

   In political jargon, a useful idiot is a term currently used to reference a person perceived as propagandizing for a cause—particularly a bad cause originating from a devious, ruthless source—without fully comprehending the cause's goals, and who is cynically being used by the cause's leaders. The term was often used during the Cold War to describe non-communists regarded as susceptible to communist propaganda and manipulation.

WikidataRate this definition:3.3 / 4 votes

1. Useful idiot

   In political jargon, useful idiot is a pejorative term for people perceived as propagandists for a cause whose goals they do not understand, and who are used cynically by the leaders of the cause. The term has been used to refer to Soviet sympathizers in Western countries. The implication was that, although the people in question naïvely thought of themselves as an ally of the Soviet Union, they were actually held in contempt and were being cynically used. The use of the term in political discourse has since been extended to other propagandists, especially those who are seen to unwittingly support a malignant cause which they naïvely believe to be a force for good. Despite often being attributed to Lenin, in 1987, Grant Harris, senior reference librarian at the Library of Congress, declared that "We have not been able to identify this phrase among [Lenin's] published works." A New York Times article from 1948, on contemporary Italian politics, documented usage of the term in an article from the social-democratic Italian paper L'Umanita. The French equivalent, "idiots utiles", was used in a newspaper article title as early as 1946. An earlier usage of a similar term, useful innocents, appears in Austrian-American economist Ludwig von Mises' "Planned Chaos". Von Mises claims the term was used by communists for liberals that von Mises describes as "confused and misguided sympathizers". The term useful innocents also appears in a Readers Digest article titled "Yugoslavia's Tragic Lesson to the World", an excerpt from a, at the time, forthcoming book authored by Bogdan Raditsa, a "high ranking official of the Yugoslav Government". Raditsa says: "In the Serbo-Croat language the communists have a phrase for true democrats who consent to collaborate with them for 'democracy.' It is Korisne Budale, or Useful Innocents." Although Raditsa translates the phrase as "Useful Innocents", the word budala actually translates as "fool" and synonyms thereof.

How to pronounce useful idiot?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say useful idiot in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of useful idiot in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of useful idiot in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

Examples of useful idiot in a Sentence

1. Project Veritas:

   People dont know theyre being lied to, but these tapes show that the top-down approach to media, they show Jeff Zucker telling people what to cover, whatnot to cover -- calling [ Giuliani ] a useful idiot there, telling them for political reasons dontcover certain stories, fox News host Sean Hannity, these are the times that try mens souls and I think if you go one direction, you lose your conscience, another direction, you lose your livelihood. But there are brave people like the person we worked with regarding CNN who are willing to be citizen journalists, willing to expose these sorts of things.

2. Joy Behar:

   She hasnt denied it, shes just going after Hillary. I just think that she could be a useful idiot the way that Trump is a useful idiot to the Russians.

References

1. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Useful_Idiot
2. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useful_Idiot
3. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=useful idiot