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
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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
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
Noun
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Hobart Police Detective Wendell Hite wrote that police dropped off a criminal informant outside the mall to buy drugs from Larkin in a black Lincoln in the parking lot.—
Meredith Colias-Pete,
Chicago Tribune,
24 Jan. 2026
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Adrian Jimenez, 44, met Espinoza Martinez through his small construction business, but that witness has a felony record and – unbeknownst to the Martinez – has also been working as a police informant since the 1990s.—
Sara Machi,
CBS News,
21 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Frizer and Skeres were fraudsters, and the sinister Poley was an informer, crucial to the exposure of the Babington Plot.—
Anthony Lane,
New Yorker,
8 Sep. 2025
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Option 2: If one prisoner informs while the other stays silent, the informer will go free while the silent one receives the harshest sentence.—
Michael Ashley,
Forbes.com,
29 July 2025
Noun
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While Chicago is the canary in the coal mine, the legislative resistance to choice affects the entire state.—
The Editorial Board,
Chicago Tribune,
22 Jan. 2026
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Against a backdrop of teak wood and bamboo, driftwood bedposts make the mosquito nets look like chic bed drapes, while canary-yellow day beds and blinds add a ray of sunshine to even the dreariest days.—
Chris Schalkx,
Condé Nast Traveler,
12 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The powerful anticoagulant rat poisons at issue here make up only a handful of products.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
20 Jan. 2026
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There Are About 20 Species of Hamsters Hamsters belong to the family Cricetidae, which includes voles and lemmings as well as rats and mice.—
Noel Kirkpatrick,
Treehugger,
20 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Robert Steele, Marshall's fiance at the time of her death, told reporters after the hearing that sentencing Thompson to life in prison without parole is the right thing to do.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
22 Jan. 2026
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Additionally, Tom Rinaldi and Erin Andrews will be the sideline reporters providing commentary and in-game analysis.—
Mark J. Burns,
Forbes.com,
22 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Stool pigeon.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stool%20pigeon. Accessed 26 Jan. 2026.
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