cat and mouse

Definition of cat and mouse

: behavior like that of a cat with a mouse: such as

a : the act of toying with or tormenting something before destroying it

b : a contrived action involving constant pursuit, near captures, and repeated escapes played a game of cat and mouse with the police broadly : an evasive action

Examples of cat and mouse in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Like a game of cat and mouse, the cheaters try to stay ahead of the watchers, while the watchers try to catch the cheaters. — Tara Sullivan, BostonGlobe.com, "Why do some in sports feel the need to cheat?," 18 Jan. 2020 This is an algorithmic kind of game of cat and mouse, where the forgeries will get better alongside the detection. — Washington Post, "Facebook bans deepfakes in fight against online manipulation," 7 Jan. 2020 The cat and mouse game now playing out across shut down subreddits and sketchy link sites is the result of two facts of the internet. — Jacob Feldman, SI.com, "Massive La Liga Fine Just the Beginning of Sports Media’s Newest Battle," 14 June 2019 Determined to track down the responsible parties, Bourne initiates a complex game of cat and mouse with the equally determined Pamela Landy (Joan Allen), a CIA agent who likes to run things her way. — Michael Rechtshaffen, The Hollywood Reporter, "'The Bourne Supremacy': THR's 2004 Review," 23 July 2019 The heavy response drove protesters back from the legislature and began a night of cat and mouse pursuit throughout the city, which saw protesters set fires and vandalize subway stations as police made sporadic arrests. — James Griffiths, CNN, "Hong Kong protests are growing smaller, but more violent and ugly," 15 Sep. 2019 What will this live-action hybrid cat and mouse even look like? — Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, "Tom and Jerry adds 4 more to cast — because apparently the world asked for more live-action cats," 30 July 2019 On the one hand, the cat and mouse, tit for tat battle between Liverpool and Manchester City was an enthralling and utterly remarkable title chase. — SI.com, "Premier League: Why the Rest of the Top 6 Won't Close the Gap to Liverpool & Man City Next Season," 8 June 2019 So future tanks will become more difficult for enemies to detect, playing a cat and mouse game with their opponents by reducing their acoustic, radar, and infrared signatures. — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "Stealth Tanks Are Coming," 7 Aug. 2018

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

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about cat and mouse

Dictionary Entries near cat and mouse

Statistics for cat and mouse

Last Updated

14 Feb 2020

Cite this Entry

“Cat and mouse.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cat%20and%20mouse. Accessed 19 Feb. 2020.

Keep scrolling for more

WORD OF THE DAY

eradicate

See Definitions and Examples »

Test Your Vocabulary

More Confusing Words—Quiz

The magician ______ moved the selected card to the top of the deck.

discreetly discretely

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.