as in informant
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 canary
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
Glossy rosettes emerge green and blush rosy when temperatures dips, then burst into canary-yellow flowers emerge in late summer-early fall.
—Erica Browne Grivas, Midwest Living, 4 May 2026
The canary trap is a simple tool often used to identify leakers or double agents.
—Nate Anderson, ArsTechnica, 4 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for canary
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
Glossy rosettes emerge green and blush rosy when temperatures dips, then burst into canary-yellow flowers emerge in late summer-early fall.
—Erica Browne Grivas, Midwest Living, 4 May 2026
The canary trap is a simple tool often used to identify leakers or double agents.
—Nate Anderson, ArsTechnica, 4 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for canary
Recent Examples of Synonyms for canary
Noun
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Greylord was a watershed moment in its use of eavesdropping devices and a mole to obtain evidence instead of relying on wrongdoers to become government informants.—
Kori Rumore,
Chicago Tribune,
6 June 2026
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The charges do not stem from the general practice of paying informants but from the Justice Department's allegations that the SPLC made these payments without disclosing the practice to donors and by defrauding banks.—
Sarah N. Lynch,
CBS News,
3 June 2026
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.—
Abraham Jiménez Enoa,
The Dial,
19 May 2026
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And so every regime invests in having student informers.—
Anne Applebaum,
The Atlantic,
23 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Sikiric remembers the juice sometimes harbored rats that had been caught and eaten by the pigs in their final hours.—
Sara Talpos — Undark,
STAT,
1 June 2026
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Someone says the rats are actually cute — what’s your honest response?—
Zach Schiffman,
Curbed,
29 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Canary.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/canary. Accessed 7 Jun. 2026.
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