Noun: red herring red he-ring
- Any diversion intended to distract attention from the main issue
"The politician's statement about his childhood was just a red herring to avoid addressing the scandal"
- A dried and smoked herring having a reddish colour
"The deli offered red herring as part of their fish platter";
- smoked herring
- A first draft of a prospectus; must be clearly marked to indicate that parts may be changed in the final prospectus
"because some portions of the cover page are printed in red ink a preliminary prospectus is sometimes called a red herring";
- preliminary prospectus
Derived forms: red herring
Type of: aside, course catalog [US], course catalogue, deflection, deflexion [Brit], deviation, digression, discursion, divagation [rare], diversion, excursus, herring, parenthesis, prospectus, sidetrack
Encyclopedia: Red herring