Meaning
5 sensesA doll or scarecrow, particularly one stuffed with straw.
Strohpuppe
чу́челоčúčelo, пу́галоpúgalo, страши́лаstrašíla
(figuratively)An innocuous person or someone of nominal or lesser importance, as a front man or straw boss.
Strohmann
(figuratively)An insubstantial concept, idea, endeavor or argument, particularly one deliberately set up to be weakly supported, e.g. by misrepresenting an opponent's argument by broadening or narrowing the scope of a premise, so that it can be easily knocked down; especially to impugn the strength of any related or contrasted thing or idea.
(figuratively)An outline serving as an initial proposal for a project, usually refined iteratively.
a tentative straw-man spec
Synonym of straw buyer.
- a weak or sham argument set up to be easily refuted
- a male person used as a cover for some questionable activity
- an effigy in the shape of a man to frighten birds away from seeds
Examples
1 sentencesIt always has to be a straw man with them.
Translations
8 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 2
Origin
From straw + man.From straw + man.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: straw menSynonyms
6 synonyms- a weak or sham argument set up to be easily refuted:strawman
- a male person used as a cover for some questionable activity:strawmanfront man
- an effigy in the shape of a man to frighten birds away from seeds:scarecrowstrawmanbird-scarerscarer
Antonyms
1 antonymsLessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Plural nouns — Because its plural is irregular
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.