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
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
The canary for the royal coal mine was the hot equerry.
—Elise Taylor, Vanity Fair, 30 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for canary
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
The canary for the royal coal mine was the hot equerry.
—Elise Taylor, Vanity Fair, 30 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for canary
Recent Examples of Synonyms for canary
Noun
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The only reason anybody learned about it was the informant’s guilty plea.—
Lars Daniel,
Forbes.com,
14 May 2026
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Lea Garofalo Lea Garofalo was an Italian civilian informant whose break with the ’Ndrangheta ended in her murder.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
13 May 2026
Noun
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And so every regime invests in having student informers.—
Anne Applebaum,
The Atlantic,
23 Jan. 2026
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The whole family is deeply involved in the revolutionary movement: the oldest son disappears into Siberia, never to be seen or heard of again, while the youngest, eighteen, is jailed together with his father, and executed after his cell is exposed by an informer.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
22 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The strain involved in the cruise ship outbreak, the Andes strain, is not found in North America and is linked to the pygmy rice rat that’s native in parts of Argentina and Chile.—
Aria Bendix,
NBC news,
12 May 2026
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The residents sheltering in place during the pandemic hit more deer, left more trash that fed more rats, all of which sustained a bigger pack of coyotes over the past year.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
12 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Canary.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/canary. Accessed 17 May. 2026.
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