as in pawns
one that is or can be used to further the purposes of another
these changes to the zoning laws have only confirmed for many that the town council has become the cat's-paw of local real estate developers
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cat's-paws
Noun
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They were treated like pawns in a JEA chess game, played and discarded.—
Mark Woods,
Florida Times-Union,
20 Feb. 2026 -
During that period, NYC received 220,000 migrants — because the Republican governor of Texas wanted to cruelly use them as political pawns by sending them here.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
16 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Unlike conventional pipe-inspection tools, the robot can travel up to 6 km on a single battery charge, while operating in passages only a few centimeters wide.—
Atharva Gosavi,
Interesting Engineering,
5 Mar. 2026
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Always wear safety gear when working with tools and equipment.—
Daniel Scott,
Better Homes & Gardens,
5 Mar. 2026
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“Cat's-paws.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cat%27s-paws. Accessed 9 Mar. 2026.
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