stoolie

noun

ˈstü-lē How to pronounce stoolie (audio)
Definition of stoolienext
as in informant
a person who provides information about another's wrongdoing told the mule that if he ever turned stoolie, he'd end up spilling his guts in more ways than one

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 stoolie At one point my head was whipped back and forth like a mafia stoolie being slapped silly by his don. — Washington Post, 24 Aug. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stoolie
  1. informant
  2. informer
  3. canary
  4. rat
Noun
  • Sentenced to life in prison, Buchanan maintained a grip over gangs in the South Bay area of San Diego, according to an FBI report of an informant’s interview.
    — Matthew Ormseth, Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct. 2026
  • Sguros was listed as the informant on West’s death certificate, and several months after the initial death investigation, was legally authorized to release West’s remains to a cremation service business.
    — Angie DiMichele, Sun Sentinel, 22 Oct. 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
  • For a cold moment the silence locked a grip on our table, though it was broken, at the edges, by the golf commentators moaning and harrumphing, Rory McIlroy having had a canary on a seventeenth fairway somewhere this championship Sunday.
    — Kevin Barry, New Yorker, 11 Oct. 2026
  • Astronauts bring them on journeys to keep an eye on whether or not the water filtration systems are working, much the way miners used to take canaries down to the coal mines to check for poisonous gas leaks.
    — Leslie Felperin, HollywoodReporter, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of canary
Noun
  • New research has also shown that reducing another signaling chemical, norepinephrine, in certain brain regions can decrease rats’ ability to learn from situations where expected rewards are less available.
    — Maia Szalavitz, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
  • The Republican billionaire accused of fueling an infestation of rats in Chicago.
    — Jim Edwards, Fortune, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of rat

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Cite this Entry

“Stoolie.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stoolie. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.

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