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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Last month, Elicker announced Jacobson’s retirement, saying the former chief acknowledged taking money from a city fund used to pay confidential informants who assist in narcotics investigations, according to The Associated Press.—
Michael Sinkewicz,
FOXNews.com,
21 Feb. 2026
-
Rios’ attorneys contend that the case had gone cold when Guevara, who at the time was a gang crimes specialist, not a homicide detective, inserted himself into the investigation by claiming two confidential informants had fingered Rios as the gunman.—
Jason Meisner,
Chicago Tribune,
20 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
And so every regime invests in having student informers.—
Anne Applebaum,
The Atlantic,
23 Jan. 2026
-
The whole family is deeply involved in the revolutionary movement: the oldest son disappears into Siberia, never to be seen or heard of again, while the youngest, eighteen, is jailed together with his father, and executed after his cell is exposed by an informer.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
22 Jan. 2026
Noun
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By crunching data from millions of monthly payroll records for workers in jobs with exposure to generative AI, the authors concluded that workers ages 22 to 25—the canaries—have seen about a 13 percent decline in employment since late 2022.—
Josh Tyrangiel,
The Atlantic,
10 Feb. 2026
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There are no canaries on the Canary Islands.—
Richard Lederer,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
31 Jan. 2026
Noun
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And Schaeffer marveled at the gym-rat mentality Arenado brought to the baseball diamond.—
Patrick Saunders,
Denver Post,
25 Feb. 2026
-
The introduction of rats, dogs, cats and stoats, as well as hunting by people and destruction of native forest habitats, drove species of the country’s flourishing flightless birds — the kakapo among them — to near or complete extinction.—
Charlotte Graham-McLay,
Los Angeles Times,
24 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Branthwaite gave a stock answer when discussing his new role with reporters on Monday.—
Patrick Boyland,
New York Times,
26 Feb. 2026
-
Rustem Umerov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, is due to hold talks with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Thursday in Geneva, Zelenskyy told reporters.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
26 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Stool pigeon.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stool%20pigeon. Accessed 26 Feb. 2026.
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