Meaning of psychological warfare | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A mentally manipulative approach to warfare involving use of techniques to demoralize or intimidate someone into surrender.
   idiomatic, uncountable
2. Mind games.
   broadly, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“Li also inspected a psychological warfare unit at Huchingtou, Liehyu, where he saw off a balloon carrying materials showing the free bastion of Taiwan's warm support for the pro-democracy movement on the China mainland.”

“The intelligence services believe it is more likely the Chinese would use psychological warfare to give the impression they were about to seize one of the islands, rather than carry it out. However, if there was pressure within the Chinese military to achieve at least a token military success against Taiwan, this option could not be dismissed.”

“Bill Tilden invented tennis as we now know it. He changed it from the gentlemanly pastime of the 1920s into a professional sport involving stars, strategies and large amounts of money, from a dull and predictable game into a tactical enterprise involving strategy and psychological warfare, net shots, scoops and lobs, all calculated to throw opponents off balance.”

CEFR level