red herring
noun/ˌred ˈherɪŋ/
/ˌred ˈherɪŋ/
- an unimportant fact, idea, event, etc. that takes people’s attention away from the important ones
- He deliberately threw a red herring into the conversation.
Word OriginFrom the custom of using the smell of a smoked, dried herring (which was red) to train dogs to hunt.Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
Check pronunciation:
red herring