as in informants
a person who provides information about another's wrongdoing
a canary who was singing and giving up the names of some of the city's most notorious drug lords
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of canaries
The Edge and Adam Clayton both release canaries into the air in slow motion.
—
Al Shipley,
SPIN,
26 June 2026
These living materials could also serve as canaries in the coal mine for water safety, glowing brighter or dimming in the presence of specific toxins.
—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
7 May 2026
That principle is why coal miners once brought canaries underground, as one emergency medicine doctor explained in a recent court declaration.
—
Lisa Song,
ProPublica,
7 May 2026
If canaries in coal mines were harbingers of safe conditions, surely piping plovers at Waukegan Beach mean the city is overcoming its polluted past.
—
Charles Selle,
Chicago Tribune,
4 May 2026
The proverbial canaries in coal mines will then cause a recession.
—
Jim Cramer,
CNBC,
1 Mar. 2026
Make canaries and rollback standard.
—
Rahul Dey,
Forbes.com,
20 Feb. 2026
By crunching data from millions of monthly payroll records for workers in jobs with exposure to generative AI, the authors concluded that workers ages 22 to 25—the canaries—have seen about a 13 percent decline in employment since late 2022.
—
Josh Tyrangiel,
The Atlantic,
10 Feb. 2026
There are no canaries there either.
—
Richard Lederer,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
31 Jan. 2026
Al Shipley,
SPIN,
26 June 2026
These living materials could also serve as canaries in the coal mine for water safety, glowing brighter or dimming in the presence of specific toxins.
—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
7 May 2026
That principle is why coal miners once brought canaries underground, as one emergency medicine doctor explained in a recent court declaration.
—
Lisa Song,
ProPublica,
7 May 2026
If canaries in coal mines were harbingers of safe conditions, surely piping plovers at Waukegan Beach mean the city is overcoming its polluted past.
—
Charles Selle,
Chicago Tribune,
4 May 2026
The proverbial canaries in coal mines will then cause a recession.
—
Jim Cramer,
CNBC,
1 Mar. 2026
Make canaries and rollback standard.
—
Rahul Dey,
Forbes.com,
20 Feb. 2026
By crunching data from millions of monthly payroll records for workers in jobs with exposure to generative AI, the authors concluded that workers ages 22 to 25—the canaries—have seen about a 13 percent decline in employment since late 2022.
—
Josh Tyrangiel,
The Atlantic,
10 Feb. 2026
There are no canaries there either.
—
Richard Lederer,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
31 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for canaries
Noun
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In 2020, for example, the high court ruled that Muslim men who claimed that their religious rights were violated for being placed on the government’s no-fly list after refusing to serve as FBI informants could sue the FBI agents for damages.
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More recently, the Department of Justice charged the Southern Poverty Law Center — a civil rights nonprofit accused by Republicans of targeting conservatives in its work tracking extremists — with defrauding donors through payments to informants.
Noun
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One of State Security’s main goals, as well as a central source of its strength, is turning civilians into informers.
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And so every regime invests in having student informers.
Noun
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Hantavirus is an infectious disease that's normally spread through contact with rodents such as deer mice, cotton rats, rice rats and the white-footed mouse.
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Someone says the rats are actually cute — what’s your honest response?
Cite this Entry
“Canaries.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/canaries. Accessed 1 Jul. 2026.
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