cat's-paws

plural of cat's-paw
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
  • Melton was a Mountain West All-Academic pick who today is an avid chess player, moving pawns on his phone or going toe-to-toe with Justin Verlander in the middle of the clubhouse.
    Cody Stavenhagen, New York Times, 21 Aug. 2026
  • With no end to the war in sight, inflation on the rise, fuel rationing and continued threats of strikes, the vast majority of the Iranian population appear not to be players, but pawns.
    Will Barker, TheWeek, 14 Aug. 2026
Noun
  • But as self-learning AI behaves in unpredictable ways (such as the recent incident with Hugging Face tools), the risk of significant liability becomes real.
    Arthur Zaczkiewicz, Footwear News, 20 Sep. 2026
  • And that’s what gives you not just a richer view of the world itself, but also a richer set of tools and ways to intervene with the world, interact with the world.
    David Brooks, The Atlantic, 20 Sep. 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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“Cat's-paws.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cat%27s-paws. Accessed 21 Sep. 2026.

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