Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. One that is seemingly dangerous and powerful but is in fact timid and weak: "They are paper tigers, weak and indecisive” ( Frederick Forsyth).
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. a person or group that appears to be powerful and dangerous but is in fact weak and ineffectual.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the nature of a person or organization that appears powerful but is actually powerless and ineffectual
Etymologies
- Translating Mandarin 纸老虎 (simplified) / 紙老虎 (traditional) / zhǐ lǎohǔ (pinyin) (Wiktionary)
Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘paper tiger’.
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Take five
Two-word phrases composed of five-letter words. There are a couple with three words (great white shark), but I stuck those on Triads 3.
belly laugh, bench press, bette davis, black angus, blank check, booby hatch, brain coral, bronx cheer, brown dwarf, buddy holly, burnt umber, cabin fever and 195 more...
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AFET - diplomacy
broker a peace ac..., client state, deadlocked peace ..., embassy, freeze, goodwill ambassador, hinterland, interfere in dome..., intervene personally, maintain technica..., mediation, no business as usual and 670 more...
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POL - scandalous (words and collocati...
Words and collocations associated with political scandal
blow the whistle, boo, cronyism and rigging, democratic deficit, denigrate, dirty linen, fiasco, finger pointing a..., graft, hidden account, hush money, illicit financing... and 578 more...
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POL - elections
announcement of c..., campaign headquar..., campaign season, campaign staff, campaign strategy, campaign tactic, campaign team, campaign trail, campaigning, candidate, candidate registr..., caucus and 930 more...
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AFET - diplomacy - noun+noun collocat...
accession negotia..., accreditation check, adversary adviser, arms-control treaty, candidate country, career diplomat, cartography channel, charm offensive, client state, conspiracy theory, counter-intellige..., courtesy shuttle and 95 more...
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EN - cool expressions
Trendy, funny or highly descriptive collocations
overstep the mark, open a big can of..., bad hair day, the icing on the ..., low-hanging fruit, ripple effect, big cheese, tackle an issue h..., root-and-branch r..., throw good money ..., open Pandora's box, place on the back... and 147 more...
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The Marriage of Pretty Words
A list of two words or more, which were singularly pretty or found to be pleasing, but sounds even better when used together!
sweet tooth fairy, prancing peony, coy boy toy, sour puss, paper tiger, whipped buttercream, dandy lion, clothes horse, scare crow, beauty parlor, pantomime horse, shark bait and 68 more...
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♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
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that's just beastly!
cat-o-nine-tails, snake in the grass, puppy love, white elephant, crocodile tears, monkey business, keep the wolf fro..., culture vulture, black sheep of th..., scapegoat, ugly duckling, swan song and 260 more...
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P is for Porch Dog
My P Words
paddington, paddy wagon, paddy whack, paddywhack, paisano, pandemonium, pantaloon, pantaloons, paper tiger, papoose, parachute pants, parcel and 109 more...
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dyy's Words
ambivalence, irony, double-edged sword, paradox, struggle, plunge, buoy, pigeon-hole, ultimately, status quo, fuel, undermine and 230 more...
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Listless
Nowhere else to put these yet.
sibilant, cloying, pithy, apologia, odyssey, amanuensis, pleasantries, ginormous, burnish, sojourn, quonset, over-under and 217 more...
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Noah's Park
Hello, and Welcome™! Come and visit our most diverse land of our Animalesque™ adventures. Here at Noah's Park™ we have Virtually All You'd Ever Want To See™. An experience that is related to ani...
sheep's eyes, doe-eyed, cat-eyed, bug-eyed, cat's paw, black swan, leapfrog, menagerie, cold turkey, card shark, snail's pace, bull's eye and 362 more...
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Animalia Wordia
Words or short phrases with animal names in them. Since I already have a dedicated list for 'monkey' words I shall leave them out of this one for the moment.
paper tiger, pigeon-hearted, lion-hearted, sacred cow, chicken heart, fraidy cat, scaredy-cat, snake oil, can of worms, snake pit, rat's nest, stool pigeon and 114 more...
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Whimsical Imageries
Words, phrases - conjuring images in our swirling brain neurones.
amputated wings, paper tiger, cropped circles, dusty marshmellows, dehydrated sponge, creasing grains, raindrops frozen ..., spilt pulp, flattened top hats, curling vines, littered sidewalks, pages flaking wit... and 2 more...
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Fun phrases & Idioms2
deep-six, jump the gun, play hardball, race against time, slam dunk, blind-sided, rock the boat, cold hard cash, gravy train, monkey business, smell a rat, bang for the buck and 87 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for paper tiger.

captaincloud A paper tiger under a paper moon Apr 5, 2009
asativum The best kind to encounter in the jungle, though prone to burn bright. Jun 29, 2008
whichbe A seemingly fierce person or thing without the ability to back up their words. (Wiktionary) Jun 10, 2008