puppet

CEFRB1

/ˈpʌpɪt/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A figure moved by a person to tell a story.

  2. 02

    noun

    A person controlled by someone else.

Examples

  • I have lived a life of a puppet of fortune.

  • The Foreign Minister was a puppet.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
2
Synonyms
3

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A person, country, etc, controlled by another.

  2. A poppet; a small image in the human form; a doll.

  3. Any small model of a person or animal able to be moved by strings or rods, or in the form of a glove.

More examples

In context

  • Every act of a Roman, from birth to death, from dawn to night, was controlled and supervised by some presiding deity. Man was thus virtually a symbolic puppet in the hands of the Roman pantheon.

  • These men , from no worse motive that could be discovered than a thirst after knowledge beyond their sphere , committed burglary upon the barn in which the puppets had been consigned to repose

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The little girl made the blank dance by pulling the strings attached to its hands and feet.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English popet, probably from, though attested earlier than, Middle French poupette, diminutive of poupée (cf. also Medieval Latin *pupata), ultimately derived from Latin pupa (“doll, puppet; girl”). The nominal form first appears c. 1531, and the verbal form c. 1635. See also puppy.