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stool pigeon

noun

Definition of stool pigeonnext
as in informant
a person who provides information about another's wrongdoing the FBI finally got a break when one of the mob boss's top henchmen turned stool pigeon

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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 stool pigeon Once an unconscious stool pigeon, always an unconscious stool pigeon. — Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 12 Nov. 2025 Russo turned stool pigeon within a month of his November 2017 arrest for selling a kilo of cocaine to an undercover agent. — John Annese, New York Daily News, 26 Feb. 2025 They are barred from using certain language during debates including git, guttersnipe, swine and stool pigeon. — Max Colchester, WSJ, 3 Jan. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stool pigeon
  1. informant
  2. informer
  3. canary
  4. rat
  5. reporter
Noun
  • Diiorio tried to pay a confidential informant to kill her ex-boyfriend, a Philadelphia police officer, and his then 19-year-old daughter, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office in New Jersey first reported in April 2025.
    — Natalie Neysa Alund, USA Today, 11 Sep. 2026
  • Among the cooperating witnesses expected to testify is Joseph Vincent, a former Drug Enforcement Administration informant who did not testify in the first trial.
    — Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of informant
Noun
  • One of State Security’s main goals, as well as a central source of its strength, is turning civilians into informers.
    — Abraham Jiménez Enoa, The Dial, 19 May 2026
  • And so every regime invests in having student informers.
    — Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic, 23 Jan. 2026
Definition of informer
Noun
  • Dollywood thus became our Disneyland — from the Tennessee Tornado to the Wild Eagle to the Mystery Mine with the dead canary collapsing before the big drop.
    — Chris Jones, New York Daily News, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Interspersed throughout the myriad activations of Monterey Car Week is the most important facet for the collector community, and that’s the array of auctions that serve as either an optimistic barometer reading or an ailing canary in the coal mine.
    — Viju Mathew, Robb Report, 19 Aug. 2026
Definition of canary
Noun
  • Sazan is a rugged place—strewn with rocks and tangles of trees, populated by a large colony of rats, and studded with bunkers built by the Marxist dictator Enver Hoxha to defend against an imaginary invasion.
    — Dexter Filkins, New Yorker, 14 Sep. 2026
  • In the special — watch a clip above — Morril tackles his worst one-night stand gone wrong, the dark humor of infamous assassinations, his bizarrely unorthodox war against rats, and more.
    — Matt Grobar, Deadline, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of rat
Noun
  • When asked for comment, an MLB spokesman pointed The Athletic to Eddings’ comments to reporters following Friday’s game.
    — Brendan Kuty, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2026
  • Kyla Guilfoil Kyla Guilfoil is a breaking news reporter on the politics team for NBC News Digital.
    — Kyla Guilfoil, NBC news, 5 Sep. 2026
Definition of reporter

Browse Nearby Words

stoolies
stool pigeon
stool pigeons
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Stool pigeon.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stool%20pigeon. Accessed 16 Sep. 2026.

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Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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