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

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 Trump’s hypothetical stooge at the Justice Department would have to not just be willing to dismiss Mueller, but to affirmatively act to shut down (or at least, rein in) his investigation and the seemingly separate Cohen probe. — Andrew Prokop, Vox, "Trump would love to fire Mueller. But here’s why he’s been afraid to so far.," 12 Apr. 2018 Detractors have accused Mousa of being a stooge candidate, sanctioned by the regime to give the election a veneer of legitimacy. — Sheena Mckenzie, Ian Lee And Sarah El Sirgany, CNN, "Egyptian President Sisi wins second term with 97% of vote," 2 Apr. 2018

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.

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Last Updated

19 Aug 2018

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Time Traveler for stooge

The first known use of stooge was in 1913

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More Definitions for stooge

stooge

noun

English Language Learners Definition of stooge

: a weak or unimportant person who is controlled by a powerful person, organization, etc.

: a performer in a show who says and does foolish things that other performers make jokes about

See the full definition for stooge in the English Language Learners Dictionary

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