"tail wagging the dog" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "First used in the 1858 play Our American Cousin. The shortened form with the political sense was popularized by the film Wag the Dog (1997).",
  "head_templates": [
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        "2": "noun",
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      "name": "head"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "73 10 17",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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        {
          "_dis": "63 15 21",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
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      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "_dis1": "69 14 18",
          "word": "wag the dog"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1987 May 9, Gordon Gottlieb, Richard Burns, Sue Hyde, “Homocrats and Liberationists: Burns and Hyde Consider the Community's Institutions”, in Gay Community News, page 8:",
          "text": "This is classic for all non-profit agencies: the tail wags the dog. If you have a foundation willing to fund a particular kind of program, then an organization will write that kind of grant. Suddenly, you're doing a program to where the bucks are. Maybe that's not within the original mission of the mission.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A minor or secondary part of something controlling or dominating the whole or the main part."
      ],
      "id": "en-tail_wagging_the_dog-en-noun-P64TZhYq",
      "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 controlling or dominating the whole or the main part."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "75 11 14",
          "word": "put the cart before the horse"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "85 8 7",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "häntä heiluttaa koiraa"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "When something powerful or important is being controlled by something that is less powerful or important."
      ],
      "id": "en-tail_wagging_the_dog-en-noun-as~UnXHw"
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Politics",
          "orig": "en:Politics",
          "parents": [
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To divert negative political attention by use of a military operation."
      ],
      "id": "en-tail_wagging_the_dog-en-noun-tQAUm8j3",
      "links": [
        [
          "politics",
          "politics"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, politics) To divert negative political attention by use of a military operation."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "government",
        "politics"
      ]
    }
  ],
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  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Wag the Dog"
  ],
  "word": "tail wagging the dog"
}

{
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    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
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    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Translation table header lacks gloss"
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  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "wag the dog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "First used in the 1858 play Our American Cousin. The shortened form with the political sense was popularized by the film Wag the Dog (1997).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
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      },
      "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 idioms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1987 May 9, Gordon Gottlieb, Richard Burns, Sue Hyde, “Homocrats and Liberationists: Burns and Hyde Consider the Community's Institutions”, in Gay Community News, page 8:",
          "text": "This is classic for all non-profit agencies: the tail wags the dog. If you have a foundation willing to fund a particular kind of program, then an organization will write that kind of grant. Suddenly, you're doing a program to where the bucks are. Maybe that's not within the original mission of the mission.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A minor or secondary part of something 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 controlling or dominating the whole or the main part."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "When something powerful or important is being controlled by something that is less powerful or important."
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "en:Politics"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To divert negative political attention by use of a military operation."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "politics",
          "politics"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, politics) To divert negative political attention by use of a military operation."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "government",
        "politics"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "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"
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "häntä heiluttaa koiraa"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Wag the Dog"
  ],
  "word": "tail wagging the dog"
}