marionette

[ mar-ee-uh-net ]

/ ˌmær i əˈnɛt /

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See synonyms for: marionette / marionettes on Thesaurus.com

noun

a puppet manipulated from above by strings attached to its jointed limbs.

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of marionette

1610–20; <French marionnette, equivalent to Marion (diminutive of Marie Mary) + -ette-ette

Words nearby marionette

Mario, Mariolatry, Mariologist, Mariology, Marion, marionette, Marion, Francis, Mariotte's law, mariposa, mariposa lily, Maris

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use marionette in a sentence

Depending on the dose of dopamine, the chip controlled the limb like a marionette.
This Artificial Neuron Uses Dopamine to Communicate With Brain Cells|Shelly Fan|August 16, 2022|Singularity Hub
Remy is, of course, an animated talking rat, and this is a movie that presumes, among other things, that a human body is an elaborate marionette operated by hair.
I Nearly Set My House on Fire Trying to Make the Lightning Mushroom From ‘Ratatouille’|Jaya Saxena|September 27, 2021|Eater
She should have spent that summer morning swimming in a pool or running around a playground, not dangling from a machine like a marionette.
Two kids, a loaded gun and the man who left a 4-year-old to die|John Woodrow Cox|September 27, 2021|Washington Post
A porcelain marionette on the shelf of your childhood bedroom.
How to respond when a job interviewer says “Tell me about yourself”|Sarah Todd|September 13, 2021|Quartz

Have you ever been on a film and felt manipulated by a director, sort of like a marionette?
Keanu Reeves Dishes On Kung Fu, Amazon Drones, Directing ‘Man of Tai Chi,’ And More|Marlow Stern|December 6, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Dodi, I remember, looked like a mangled marionette, his limbs twisted in impossible positions.
The Night Princess Diana Died|Christopher Dickey|August 31, 2013|DAILY BEAST
He had gone on to such projects as a 28-foot marionette for the 1965 Balanchine production of Don Quixote.
Big Bird’s Big Gay Love Story: From Birth to the 2012 Presidential Race|Michael Daly|October 10, 2012|DAILY BEAST
How did anyone know we were going to have a marionette show?
Grace Harlowe's Plebe Year at High School|Jessie Graham Flower
You do not seem to be aware of the identity of the marionette who has just been killed.
Castellinaria|Henry Festing Jones
If all these fail how can a marionette be expected to succeed?
Castellinaria|Henry Festing Jones
He held by the hand a little French girl, dark, small, looking almost like a marionette in her slim tailor-made costume.
Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo|E. Phillips Oppenheim
Mr. Chamberlain had caught the infection, and was salaaming across the world to Mr. Kruger, like a marionette out of a box.
A Woman's Part in a Revolution|Natalie Harris Hammond

British Dictionary definitions for marionette

marionette

/ (ˌmærɪəˈnɛt) /

noun

an articulated puppet or doll whose jointed limbs are moved by strings

Word Origin for marionette

C17: from French, from Marion, diminutive of Marie Mary + -ette

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

marionette

Origin of marionette

Words nearby marionette

Words related to marionette

How to use marionette in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for marionette

Word Origin for marionette