cannon fodder
noun
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
Examples of cannon fodder in a Sentence
The poorly trained forces are little more than cannon fodder.
Recent Examples on the Web
Because of this, many adolescents were recruited and used as cannon fodder.
—
Karla Gachet, NPR, 3 Oct. 2025
At a few thousand dollas apiece, these robots are cheap cannon fodder: limited, but infinitely more expendable than humans.
—David Hambling, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2025
Living semester to semester, pay shrinking, workload metastasising, cannon fodder in a departmental forever war.
—Book Marks
august 28, Literary Hub, 28 Aug. 2025
They were convinced that I would be shot on Ukrainian territory or sent to the front as cannon fodder.
—Kim Hjelmgaard, USA Today, 24 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cannon fodder
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.
Karla Gachet, NPR, 3 Oct. 2025
At a few thousand dollas apiece, these robots are cheap cannon fodder: limited, but infinitely more expendable than humans.
—David Hambling, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2025
Living semester to semester, pay shrinking, workload metastasising, cannon fodder in a departmental forever war.
—Book Marks
august 28, Literary Hub, 28 Aug. 2025
They were convinced that I would be shot on Ukrainian territory or sent to the front as cannon fodder.
—Kim Hjelmgaard, USA Today, 24 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cannon fodder
Cite this Entry
“Cannon fodder.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cannon%20fodder. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share