"tail wagging the dog" meaning in English

See tail wagging the dog in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: En-au-tail wagging the dog.ogg
Etymology: First used in the 1858 play Our American Cousin. The shortened form wag the dog, with a political sense, was popularized by the film Wag the Dog (1997). For the verb phrase, see the tail wags the dog. Head templates: {{head|en|noun|head=tail wagging the dog}} tail wagging the dog
  1. (idiomatic) A minor or secondary part of something which is controlling or dominating the whole or the main part. Wikipedia link: Wag the Dog Tags: idiomatic Derived forms: wag the dog Related terms: put the cart before the horse Translations (Translations): häntä heiluttaa koiraa (Finnish), კუდი, რომელიც ძაღლს აქიცინებს (ḳudi, romelic ʒaɣls akicinebs) (Georgian)
{
  "etymology_text": "First used in the 1858 play Our American Cousin. The shortened form wag the dog, with a political sense, was popularized by the film Wag the Dog (1997). For the verb phrase, see the tail wags the dog.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "noun",
        "head": "tail wagging the dog"
      },
      "expansion": "tail wagging the dog",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
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          "parents": [],
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        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Georgian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "wag the dog"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A minor or secondary part of something which is controlling or dominating the whole or the main part."
      ],
      "id": "en-tail_wagging_the_dog-en-noun-DLadrCjt",
      "links": [
        [
          "minor",
          "minor"
        ],
        [
          "secondary",
          "secondary"
        ],
        [
          "part",
          "part"
        ],
        [
          "control",
          "control"
        ],
        [
          "dominating",
          "dominate"
        ],
        [
          "whole",
          "whole"
        ],
        [
          "main",
          "main"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A minor or secondary part of something which is controlling or dominating the whole or the main part."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "put the cart before the horse"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "häntä heiluttaa koiraa"
        },
        {
          "code": "ka",
          "lang": "Georgian",
          "lang_code": "ka",
          "roman": "ḳudi, romelic ʒaɣls akicinebs",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "კუდი, რომელიც ძაღლს აქიცინებს"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Wag the Dog"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-tail wagging the dog.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/d5/En-au-tail_wagging_the_dog.ogg/En-au-tail_wagging_the_dog.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/En-au-tail_wagging_the_dog.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tail wagging the dog"
}
{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "wag the dog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "First used in the 1858 play Our American Cousin. The shortened form wag the dog, with a political sense, was popularized by the film Wag the Dog (1997). For the verb phrase, see the tail wags the dog.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "noun",
        "head": "tail wagging the dog"
      },
      "expansion": "tail wagging the dog",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "put the cart before the horse"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with Georgian translations",
        "Translation table header lacks gloss"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A minor or secondary part of something which is controlling or dominating the whole or the main part."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "minor",
          "minor"
        ],
        [
          "secondary",
          "secondary"
        ],
        [
          "part",
          "part"
        ],
        [
          "control",
          "control"
        ],
        [
          "dominating",
          "dominate"
        ],
        [
          "whole",
          "whole"
        ],
        [
          "main",
          "main"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A minor or secondary part of something which is controlling or dominating the whole or the main part."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Wag the Dog"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-tail wagging the dog.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/d5/En-au-tail_wagging_the_dog.ogg/En-au-tail_wagging_the_dog.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/En-au-tail_wagging_the_dog.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "häntä heiluttaa koiraa"
    },
    {
      "code": "ka",
      "lang": "Georgian",
      "lang_code": "ka",
      "roman": "ḳudi, romelic ʒaɣls akicinebs",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "კუდი, რომელიც ძაღლს აქიცინებს"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tail wagging the dog"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-03-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-03-03 using wiktextract (05c257f and 9d9a410). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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