Mongering

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of promoting or spreading something, especially rumors, fear, or conflict
2. A practice involving the active encouragement or dissemination of information, often causing worry or hostility
3. The behavior of deliberately stirring up or increasing a certain feeling or situation, typically one that is harmful or unwelcome

Etymology: "Mongering" is simply "monger" with the suffix "-ing" added, and the suffix is the more interesting part of the story. The "-ing" ending descends from an old Germanic suffix that appeared in Old English as "-ung" and then softened over the Middle English period into "-ynge," before settling into the modern form. Its job was to turn an action into a noun, so "mongering" originally named the act of doing whatever "monger" described. The verb "monger" itself is the older element. It comes from Old English "mangere," a trader or dealer, and it was used for people who bought and sold particular goods, as in "fishmonger" or "ironmonger." Over time the word lost its neutral commercial sense, and a monger became someone who promoted or peddled something, often something undesirable. The modern sense of "spreading harmful rumours" grew naturally from that: to monger rumours is to trade in them, pushing them from person to person as if they were merchandise.

Synonyms: promoting, fostering, instigating, encouraging, spreading

Antonyms: discouraging, dissuading, suppressing, stifling, preventing