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Synonyms

teacher's pet

American  

noun

  1. a pupil who is a favorite of a teacher.

teacher's pet Idioms  

  1. A person who has gained favor with authority, as in Al has managed to be teacher's pet in any job he has held. This expression transfers the original sense of a teacher's favorite pupil to broader use. [1920s]

Etymology

Origin of teacher's pet

First recorded in 1925–30

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.

"He wasn't quite the teacher’s pet, but the teachers were always asking 'do you agree with that Erik?'"

From BBC • Sep. 25, 2024

Even then, a teacher’s pet like me could have gotten the decision overturned.

From Washington Post • Jun. 5, 2022

Connie is essentially power-hungry teacher’s pet Tracy Flick from “Election,” if she grew up to become an Olympic race-walking champion who has struggled with infertility.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 9, 2021

“I consciously learned and performed my race,” he writes, “like a teacher’s pet in an advanced placement course on black masculinity.”

From New York Times • Oct. 14, 2019

He was being treated like—like the teacher’s pet.

From "Frindle" by Andrew Clements

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.