Definition of Red herring

a believable distraction designed to mislead, often used in mystery novels

Examples of Red herring in a sentence

Sherlock Holmes warned that if a case was solved too easily, it was likely a red herring that distracted the detectives from the real criminal.  🔊

Mystery writers often use a red herring to mislead the reader into believing something is important that has nothing to do with the story.  🔊

The criminal planted drugs in his enemy’s car as a red herring to lead the police away from him.  🔊

Detectives thought the mysterious jewelry found at the scene of the crime was an important clue, but it was nothing more than a red herring.  🔊

Often politicians will use a controversial subject as a red herring to distract the media from important issues that they would rather not address.  🔊

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