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
Relevance
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cat's-paws
Noun
-
According to The Guardian, three military family advocacy organizations reported that the Marines felt like political pawns.—
Chris John Amorosino,
Hartford Courant,
16 Apr. 2026 -
They were used as pawns in completely unrelated political battles.—
Letters to the Editor,
The Orlando Sentinel,
15 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists.—
Pete Sweeney,
Kansas City Star,
22 Apr. 2026
-
Called knot invariants, these tools each measure some aspect of a knot — a pattern formed by its interwoven strands, perhaps, or the topology of the space surrounding it.—
Erica Klarreich,
Quanta Magazine,
22 Apr. 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.
Cite this Entry
“Cat's-paws.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cat%27s-paws. Accessed 24 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
