straw man
noun
1
: a weak or imaginary opposition (such as an argument or adversary) set up only to be easily confuted
2
: a person set up to serve as a cover for a usually questionable transaction
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web The book has the confounding idea of rebelling against recipes as a sort of villainous straw man. 
Wired, 1 Aug. 2022 But instead of rallying behind any of these causes, some of the most powerful and visible women in media and entertainment are busy using trans people as a straw man to express a nebulous fear that the word woman itself is somehow under threat. Emma Specter, Vogue, 5 July 2022 One piece of advice comes from Natarajan: Rebut the strongest, and not the weakest, version of an opposing argument; steel man, don’t straw man. Bo Seo, The Atlantic, 1 June 2022 Notably, Villanueva appears to have set up a straw man here. Oliver Darcy, CNN, 26 Apr. 2022 Funneling money surreptitiously to campaigns through other donors — known as straw man donations — would violate federal campaign finance laws. New York Times, 8 Feb. 2022 Senator Brown’s $300 per month tax cut is a straw man in more ways than one. Norbert Michel, Forbes, 3 Nov. 2021 The attempt to shut down all such conversations in the name of a broad, blurred, straw man version of Critical Race Theory does not serve the nation’s best interests. Peter Greene, Forbes, 23 June 2021 Indeed, beef as straw man is not accidental, according to Marion Nestle, an author and nutrition professor emerita at New York University. Washington Post, 26 Apr. 2021 See More
Wired, 1 Aug. 2022 But instead of rallying behind any of these causes, some of the most powerful and visible women in media and entertainment are busy using trans people as a straw man to express a nebulous fear that the word woman itself is somehow under threat. Emma Specter, Vogue, 5 July 2022 One piece of advice comes from Natarajan: Rebut the strongest, and not the weakest, version of an opposing argument; steel man, don’t straw man. Bo Seo, The Atlantic, 1 June 2022 Notably, Villanueva appears to have set up a straw man here. Oliver Darcy, CNN, 26 Apr. 2022 Funneling money surreptitiously to campaigns through other donors — known as straw man donations — would violate federal campaign finance laws. New York Times, 8 Feb. 2022 Senator Brown’s $300 per month tax cut is a straw man in more ways than one. Norbert Michel, Forbes, 3 Nov. 2021 The attempt to shut down all such conversations in the name of a broad, blurred, straw man version of Critical Race Theory does not serve the nation’s best interests. Peter Greene, Forbes, 23 June 2021 Indeed, beef as straw man is not accidental, according to Marion Nestle, an author and nutrition professor emerita at New York University. Washington Post, 26 Apr. 2021 See More Word History
First Known Use
1886, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Legal Definition
straw man
noun
: an intermediary for a transaction (as a conveyance of real property)