patsy
noun
a person who is easily swindled, deceived, coerced, persuaded, etc.; sucker.
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patsy
1 American
[pat-see]
/ ˈpæt si /
noun
Slang.
-
patsies
plural
-
a person who is easily swindled, deceived, coerced, persuaded, etc.; sucker.
-
a person upon whom the blame for something falls; scapegoat; fall guy.
-
a person who is the object of a joke, ridicule, or the like.
patsy
British
/ ˈpætsɪ /
noun
-
a person who is easily cheated, victimized, etc
-
a scapegoat
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of patsy
An Americanism dating back to 1900–05; origin uncertain
Explanation
A patsy is a push-over, someone who can be easily manipulated by others. If your friend has convinced you that you should do all of his laundry out of the goodness of your heart, guess what? You're a patsy. Patsy has its roots in 19th-century American slang, and it still has a slangy air to it. It may have started out as a character in an old vaudeville act named Patsy, who always got the blame when things went wrong. From there a patsy came to mean an easy target, someone who can be suckered into doing the bidding of more strong-willed people. If you show some backbone and assert yourself, you won't get the patsy treatment!
Vocabulary lists containing patsy
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
As Warren Buffett wrote, “If you’ve been playing poker for half an hour and you still don’t know who the patsy is, you’re the patsy.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026
That’s the one in which Arthur’s trusted patsy, Patsy, slaps coconut halves together so the deluded king can pretend he has a horse.
From New York Times ● Nov. 16, 2023
After all, she played the role of the getaway driver when he fled the process server last year, so clearly she's got a history of being a willing patsy for her husband's shady behavior.
From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2023
Many journalists have anointed him both—a destroyer of worlds but also a deal-maker, a patsy but also a conquering hero.
From Slate ● Jun. 3, 2023
Without even perfunctory regrets at the man’s passing, he accused Luthuli of being a patsy of the white man, mainly on the grounds that the chief had accepted the Nobel Peace Prize.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
In late 2024, housekeeping supervisors Patsy and Elsy, who are referred to in the first lawsuit against Jenner as well, by their first names only, stepped into their leadership roles.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026
One of them, Patsy Widakuswara, said she was deeply grateful for the judge's decision.
From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2026
Windsor, from Ipswich, also partnered Patsy Kensit and Anita Dobson in the main show, and Sara Cox and Alison Hammond in Christmas specials.
From BBC ● Feb. 11, 2026
Someone like Cowboy Copas—who would die in the 1963 plane crash that killed Patsy Cline—is the kind of now-obscure King artist Mr. Oyediran revisits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2025
He left for Paris, taking along his oldest daughter, Patsy, and nineteen-year-old James Hemings, one of Betty’s children.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
As Rhodes found out, however, it's not so easy to pawn your misdeeds off on patsies.
From Salon ● Dec. 12, 2022
At times, the prosecution team has suggested that reporters can be patsies in that strategy.
From Washington Post ● May 21, 2022
He’s thunked the thinkpiece, and it’s up to the patsies to enact it.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 27, 2019
“We all know life’s just a joke,” he squawks, “but those patsies think it has meaning! They’ll never get the gag, not even when they’re hit by the punch line. Lay it on! Bigly!”
From The New Yorker ● Jul. 18, 2019
"But that assumption—a whole continent of patsies —simply didn't make sense."
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
