cat's-paw

Definition of cat's-pawnext
as in pawn
one that is or can be used to further the purposes of another these changes to the zoning laws have only confirmed for many that the town council has become the cat's-paw of local real estate developers

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for cat's-paw
Noun
  • The industry says classifying EWA as a loan could have the perverse effect of sending consumers back to higher-cost, risky alternatives such as payday loans or pawn shops by imposing unnecessary restrictions, such as mandatory fees, interest charges and credit reporting requirements.
    Cheryl Winokur Munk, CNBC, 27 Feb. 2026
  • Ricchiuti is now a finance and investing professor at New Orleans' Tulane University, and recently brought a class to a pawn shop to see the gold-buying process.
    Trevor Hughes, USA Today, 27 Feb. 2026
Noun
  • According to a source familiar with the situation, the Pentagon used AI services from Anthropic, including its Claude tools, during the attack on Iran.
    Sujita Sinha, Interesting Engineering, 2 Mar. 2026
  • Researchers avoided contaminating the samples with other plastics by substituting standard tools with those made of aluminum, cotton and other non-plastic material, the release noted.
    Khloe Quill, FOXNews.com, 1 Mar. 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Cat's-paw.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cat%27s-paw. Accessed 4 Mar. 2026.

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