Puppet Meaning
/ˈpʌpɪt/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAny small model of a person or animal able to be moved by strings or rods, or in the form of a glove.
nounA person, country, etc, controlled by another.
Sentence Examples
I have lived a life of a puppet of fortune.
The Foreign Minister was a puppet.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The little girl made the ____ dance by pulling the strings attached to its hands and feet.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The politician was accused of being a ____ of the powerful business interests that had funded his campaign.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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"
— 1820 March, [Walter Scott], The Monastery. A Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Co., and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC:
"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."
— 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 209:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The little girl made the ____ dance by pulling the strings attached to its hands and feet.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The politician was accused of being a ____ of the powerful business interests that had funded his campaign.