cannon fodder

noun

|Updated on: 8 Jun 2018

Examples: cannon fodder in a Sentence

Definition of cannon fodder

1 : soldiers regarded or treated as expendable in battle

2 : an expendable or exploitable person, group, or thing

celebrities who have become cannon fodder for the tabloids

See cannon fodder defined for English-language learners

Examples of cannon fodder in a Sentence

The poorly trained forces are little more than cannon fodder.

Recent Examples of cannon fodder from the Web

Now that tariffs are actually going into effect, the damage could be even greater — turning many farmers, some of whom were Trump supporters, into cannon fodder for his protectionist trade war.

— NBC News, "Mexico will impose 20 percent tariffs on U.S. pork," 5 June 2018
Instead the Assad regime has turned to Shia militias, often made up of Afghans drafted and organised by Iran, as cannon fodder.

— The Economist, "Israel is determined to stop Iran from establishing bases in Syria," 12 Apr. 2018
Yet a 64-team women’s tournament still looks like a bloated exercise in gender equity that only underscores the enormous differences between the teams with the big guns and those that annually act as cannon fodder.

— tim sullivan, The Courier-Journal, "Women's basketball needs madness – not sameness. NCAA Tournament is still too mismatched," 15 Mar. 2018
Soldiers are fighting to preserve monarchies and a class system that views them as little more than cannon fodder.

— gary thompson, Philly.com, "'Journey's End': In the trenches with WWI soldiers," 28 Mar. 2018
This bracket buster was for all 135 other 16-seeds that had served as cannon fodder for the blue bloods of the sport since the field expanded to 64 teams (and now 68) in 1985.

— stephen schroats, star-telegram, "It's 'One Shining Moment' that will live in NCAA tournament history | Fort Worth Star-Telegram," 17 Mar. 2018
No one’s dismissing the Rockets as a novelty, a regular season mirage, or cannon fodder for a Warriors team bound to spring to life in the postseason.

— nathaniel friedman, GQ, "The Rockets Are Exactly the Kind of Wake-Up Call the Warriors Need," 15 Mar. 2018
Employees disdained their bosses for earning high six figures while temps were cycled through abusive shows like cannon fodder.

— boris kachka, The Cut, "Do As I Say, Not As I Do," 5 Feb. 2018
The pain of our most vulnerable citizens has been turned into political cannon fodder.

— wes moore, TIME.com, "America, Out In the Cold," 17 Dec. 2016

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cannon fodder.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.