red herring

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.

But in the case of Iran, the whole exercise is a bit of a red herring.

From Slate • Mar. 11, 2026

Rather than seeking common ground, Sacks calls criticism "a red herring" from AI doomers "who want all progress to stop."

From Barron's • Dec. 24, 2025

Prof Dreze says the increase to 125 guaranteed workdays per household may sound like a major revamp, but is a "red herring".

From BBC • Dec. 22, 2025

This subsidy thing is, again, a red herring.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 24, 2025

As we saw in chapter 4, many prepositions, such as after and before, take either one, so the question of whether like is a conjunction is a red herring.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker