paper tigernoun [ C ]
uk/ˌpeɪ.pə ˈtaɪ.ɡər/us/ˌpeɪ.pɚ ˈtaɪ.ɡɚ/disapprovingsomething, such as an enemy or foreign country, that seems very strong and dangerous but is really weak and not harmful:
The Soviet Union was suddenly revealed as a paper tiger.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Weakness and vulnerability
- Achilles heel
- at a low ebb idiom
- be (only) flesh and blood idiom
- be sb's poodle idiom
- chink in sb's armour idiom
- ebb
- faint
- impotent
- indefensible
- lax
- limp
- malleable
- susceptible
- toothless
- totter
- underbelly
- unprotected
- unsteady
- vulnerable
- wraith
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