paper tiger

noun

: one that is outwardly powerful or dangerous but inwardly weak or ineffectual

Examples of paper tiger in a Sentence

The new laws are just paper tigers without any method of enforcement.

Recent Examples on the Web

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Only after Israel aggressively asserted itself and its right to exist — ignoring constant criticism from a Biden White House looking to appease progressives and terrorist sympathizers — was Iran exposed as a paper tiger. —

Editorial, Boston Herald, 17 Jan. 2025 And while everyone is patting themselves on the back for exposing Hezbollah in Lebanon as a paper tiger, driving Assad from power and comprehensively embarrassing Iran, the victory is likely to be short-lived. —

Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 16 Jan. 2025 One of the most conspicuous paper tigers in American foreign policy is the Leahy Law, experts say. —

Brett Murphy, ProPublica, 15 Jan. 2025 But for the acquisition to fail so quickly, was Autonomy a paper tiger after all, and Lynch simply the mastermind of a spectacular fraud? —

airmail.news, 19 Aug. 2024 See all Example Sentences for paper tiger