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
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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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According to prosecutors, the officers went to a home with an informant to make a firearms purchase.—
Sara Tenenbaum,
CBS News,
12 June 2026
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Fagan and Edwards proceeded to draw and point their own firearms at the officers and the informant.—
Tess Kenny,
Chicago Tribune,
11 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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Beyond the more familiar terrain of diabetics, IVF patients, people using hormone therapy, and intravenous users of illicit drugs, people have been turning themselves into lab rats for new wellness frontiers.—
Matthew Sedacca,
Curbed,
16 June 2026
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Cope warns that a mouse only needs a dime-sized gap to get inside, and a rat not much more.—
Sharon Wu,
USA Today,
16 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Canary.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/canary. Accessed 20 Jun. 2026.
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