fat cats

noun

plural of fat cat
1
as in haves
a wealthy person that last recession was particularly hard on the poor, but the fat cats barely noticed a dip in their bank accounts

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in bigs
one of high position or importance within a group a candidate that has the backing of most of the party's fat cats

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of fat cats The fat cats in Congress who’ve been making a killing on Wall Street were none too pleased. — Boston Herald Editorial Staff, Boston Herald, 26 Feb. 2026 Nah, that's for the fat cats and money-grubbers. — Steph Wagner, CNBC, 1 Jan. 2026 Though many corporations could still afford suites, fat cats high-fiving while their employees lost their jobs and their companies were taking bailouts was a bad look. — John Seabrook, New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fat cats
  1. haves
  2. bigs
  3. silk stockings
  4. heavyweights
  5. capitalists
  6. big boys
  7. deep pockets
  8. big guns
Noun
  • In a dwindling list of haves, the SEC very much remains a powerbroker.
    — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 20 July 2026
  • Private fundraising has long been seen as a way to pad school budgets in wealthier communities, usually to pay for nice-to-haves, such as field trips and student clubs.
    — Mila Koumpilova, Chicago Tribune, 22 June 2026
Definition of haves
Noun
  • Plus, if Seattle wants to move Magbegor to create space for the young bigs, then other teams will know the Storm are doing so from a position of weakness.
    — Sabreena Merchant, New York Times, 21 July 2026
  • Data show those players have about an 11% chance to reach the bigs (compared to about 81% for those picked in the first round).
    — Joe Davidson, Sacbee.com, 14 July 2026
Definition of bigs
Noun
  • The record also states that the boys were wearing heavy wool coats and silk stockings in the middle of summer in Philly.
    — Joe Kinsey OutKick, FOXNews.com, 4 July 2026
  • In Girard’s household, at least three women would have mended his silk stockings and other clothes.
    — Emily J. Whitted, The Conversation, 29 Apr. 2026
Definition of silk stockings
Noun
  • With heavyweights like Alphabet , Tesla , and Intel reporting earnings this week, the entire tech sector is about to make a massive move.
    — Nishant Pant, CNBC, 21 July 2026
  • Furthermore, Interlune has locked in nearly $500 million in binding future purchase agreements from quantum cooling heavyweights Bluefors and Maybell Quantum.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 21 July 2026
Definition of heavyweights
Noun
  • D’Souza established himself in Thiel’s inner circle, which comprised mostly men, most of whom were gay and most of whom were tech founders or venture capitalists.
    — Zach Helfand, New Yorker, 13 July 2026
  • Venture capitalists pushed digital-media startups to go all in.
    — Max Tani, semafor.com, 9 July 2026
Definition of capitalists
Noun
  • But taking on one of Wall Street’s big boys, and then getting squashed for it, ranks right up there.
    — Liz Peek, Washington Post, 4 May 2026
  • Then the Bruins big boys decided to make a statement after that.
    — Steve Conroy, Boston Herald, 30 Mar. 2026
Definition of big boys
Noun
  • The company has deep pockets, massive logistics experience and AWS, its cloud business, behind it.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 20 July 2026
  • The Walmart heiress would bring deep pockets and a local flavor to the Vegas expansion process.
    — Kurt Badenhausen, Sportico.com, 20 July 2026
Definition of deep pockets
Noun
  • After England have raised a glass comes a three-match one-day international series this week when India will welcome back big guns including captain Shubman Gill and legends Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
    — Paul Newman, New York Times, 12 July 2026
  • The Minnesota Wild’s big guns showed up in a big way Saturday night, and the Avs looked wobbly for the first time in this tournament in a 5-1 loss in Game 3 at Grand Casino Arena.
    — Corey Masisak, Denver Post, 10 May 2026
Definition of big guns

Browse Nearby Words

fat cat
fat cats
fate
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Fat cats.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fat%20cats. Accessed 26 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of aerie

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Democracy or Republic: What's the difference?

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Do you 'say your piece' or 'say your peace'?

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

The Words of the Week - Jul 24

Why do we say 'fly off the handle'?
See More

Popular

See More

Democracy or Republic: What's the difference?

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
chain-question-mark
Missing Link Quiz July 2026 Five seconds to figure out the word that fits bot...
See All