How to Use red herring in a Sentence

red herring

noun
Definition of red herringnext
  • The plot of the mystery was full of red herrings.
  • The argument is a red herring. It actually has nothing to do with the issue.
  • This last bit proved a red herring, but the first part is true.
    — Elana Scherr, Car and Driver, 11 June 2023
  • It’s kind of a red herring at the beginning of the movie.
    — Chris Willman, Variety, 5 Dec. 2021
  • That debate about the anthem and the flag is the reddest of red herrings.
    — USA TODAY, 31 Jan. 2018
  • But at least a red herring is being dispatched back to the deep.
    — Holman W. Jenkins, WSJ, 12 Feb. 2019
  • The film unleashes cascades of anger and grief, and proves in the process that a tree can be a red herring.
    — Joe Morgenstern, WSJ, 5 July 2018
  • But Sussmann and the researchers called this a red herring.
    — Marshall Cohen, CNN, 16 Feb. 2022
  • Her Easter eggs were, in fact, a red herring all along.
    — Stephanie McNeal, Glamour, 5 Feb. 2024
  • And the distinctly ’70s vibe of her outfit on the posters was no red herring.
    — Liam Hess, Vogue, 4 Mar. 2021
  • Perhaps, the Deacon is just one of the good guys, a red herring to keep us guessing.
    — Shannon Carlin, refinery29.com, 3 May 2021
  • The facts: Trump’s focus on a DNC server may or may not be a red herring.
    — Richard Lardner, The Seattle Times, 17 July 2018
  • To make life even harder, the game throws red herrings into the mix: some words could be part of two groups.
    — Barry Collins, Forbes, 13 Sep. 2024
  • The cost of the promising new weight-loss drugs is perhaps something of a red herring on her part.
    — Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Times, 23 June 2023
  • With countless red herrings and brain-teasing clues, we were gripped from the start.
    — Rick Porter, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Apr. 2023
  • Later clues are often used as red herrings to throw the judges off.
    — Ariana Brockington, refinery29.com, 12 Feb. 2020
  • The same can be said of her pictures, where specificity is a bit of a red herring.
    — Mark Holgate, Vogue, 16 Feb. 2024
  • In that sense, the issue of whether Washington played a direct role in the coup is a red herring.
    — Peter Kornbluh, Foreign Affairs, 18 Aug. 2014
  • But there are compelling reasons to think that line could be a red herring.
    — Eliana Dockterman, Time, 14 Oct. 2022
  • Who killed Bryce Walker: Not falling for the red herrings with Clay!
    — Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 23 Aug. 2019
  • The preceding singles have turned out to be slight red herrings in the build-up to release.
    — Steven J. Horowitz, Variety, 13 Oct. 2023
  • In fact, the very concept of closure and the chasing of closure is something of a red herring.
    — Amy Dickinson, chicagotribune.com, 24 Sep. 2021
  • This is where the ransomware red herring enters stage left.
    — Davey Winder, Forbes, 3 July 2021
  • But then there’s a second mystery, concealed by a few red herrings in the first two sections of the film.
    — Josephine Livingstone, The New Republic, 5 July 2018
  • The book’s avowed project, the man judging his past selves, turns out to be a red herring, a very Murnanian joke.
    — Merve Emre, The New Yorker, 25 July 2022
  • Is that creepy stalker staring from across the courtyard a red herring?
    — Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 2 Feb. 2022
  • Yet renewable gas appears to be a red herring at this point in time.
    — Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 8 Aug. 2019
  • The second is that Jack is a red herring or a patsy, and that Eleanor is the primary villain of the season.
    — Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 8 Dec. 2021
  • Could Rey carrying the red, two-sided lightsaber be a red herring?
    — Eliana Dockterman, Time, 24 Aug. 2019
  • But considering there are still four episodes left, this may be a red herring.
    — Sarah Nechamkin, Vulture, 11 Mar. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'red herring.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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