stooge

noun

\ˈstüj

Definition of stooge

(Entry 1 of 2)

1a : one who plays a subordinate or compliant role to a principal

b : puppet sense 3

2 : straight man

3 : stool pigeon sense 1

stooge

verb

stooged; stooging

Definition of stooge (Entry 2 of 2)

intransitive verb

: to act as a stooge congressmen who stooge for the oil and mineral interests — New Republic

Examples of stooge in a Sentence

Noun

a gangster and his stooges He's just a stooge for the oil industry.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

Despite what could be a thankless role as a government stooge, he more than keeps up with the cogs turning around him. — Karen Han, Vox, "Homecoming, starring Julia Roberts, is simpler than it appears — and a pleasure to watch," 2 Nov. 2018 North Korea still considers South Korea an American stooge. — Choe Sang-hun, New York Times, "North Korea’s Sudden Shift Puts South’s Leader on the Spot," 17 May 2018 By contrast, Samuel may be a stooge, a tool and a deeply misguided individual, but Pattinson is nonetheless the movie’s most surprising, off-kilter and delightful element. — Justin Chang, latimes.com, "Robert Pattinson delights in the sly, archly comic western 'Damsel'," 21 June 2018 Hard to believe this is America .. watch yet another Trump stooge. — Nicole Darrah, Fox News, "MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski unloads on 'cowardly' Nielsen over briefing 'full of lies'," 18 June 2018 On March 14, 2017, Conservative Review, a Web site that opposed the Iran deal, published an article portraying Nowrouzzadeh as a traitorous stooge. — Evan Osnos, The New Yorker, "Trump vs. the “Deep State”," 14 May 2018 Alan Dershowitz, a Fox News legal analyst and frequent Trump stooge, scolded Hannity during his own show on Monday night, reasoning that Hannity's silence, at the very least, creates the appearance of impropriety. — Jay Willis, GQ, "Fox News Was Always Going to Enable Sean Hannity," 18 Apr. 2018 Most of the candidates are familiar Kremlin stooges, such as far-right hooligan Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who has run in all but one of the country’s post-Soviet presidential elections, and communist Pavel Grudinin, who runs a farm named after Lenin. — Chris Miller, WSJ, "Is Putin Repeating the Mistakes of Brezhnev?," 9 Mar. 2018 In other words, Trump is merely a useful stooge in the Kremlin’s grand design to encourage NATO disunity, U.S. isolationism and the breakup of Europe. — Owen Matthews, Newsweek, "How Vladimir Putin Is Using Donald Trump to Advance Russia's Goals," 29 Aug. 2016

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