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
Examples of straw man in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The straw man retort here is that the police have a tough and often dangerous job ensuring public safety for all of us.
—
New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 20 Jan. 2024
The argument is that the demonstration was built on a big straw man fallacy.
—Vera Bergengruen/buenos Aires, TIME, 23 May 2024
This is a straw man argument of the sort Williams delights in, in his Sun platform on the editorial pages.
—Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 10 May 2024
Now, every good straw man has a kernel of truth to it.
—Samuel Clowes Huneke, The New Republic, 26 Oct. 2023
And nearly three hours is a long time to spend with only one real person, who keeps getting attacked by straw men.
—Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 26 June 2023
That both consider realism’s antecedents and insights without using some variant of liberalism as a straw man is equally impressive.
—Emma Ashford, Foreign Affairs, 6 Sep. 2022
But again, that's a straw man—no one was arguing that backcountry streams were the main source of Giardia infections.
—Christie Wilcox, Discover Magazine, 8 Feb. 2018
Once again those with a global agenda have created a straw man by misrepresenting the position of their critics.
—Phil Plait, Discover Magazine, 31 May 2011
New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 20 Jan. 2024
The argument is that the demonstration was built on a big straw man fallacy.
—Vera Bergengruen/buenos Aires, TIME, 23 May 2024
This is a straw man argument of the sort Williams delights in, in his Sun platform on the editorial pages.
—Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 10 May 2024
Now, every good straw man has a kernel of truth to it.
—Samuel Clowes Huneke, The New Republic, 26 Oct. 2023
And nearly three hours is a long time to spend with only one real person, who keeps getting attacked by straw men.
—Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 26 June 2023
That both consider realism’s antecedents and insights without using some variant of liberalism as a straw man is equally impressive.
—Emma Ashford, Foreign Affairs, 6 Sep. 2022
But again, that's a straw man—no one was arguing that backcountry streams were the main source of Giardia infections.
—Christie Wilcox, Discover Magazine, 8 Feb. 2018
Once again those with a global agenda have created a straw man by misrepresenting the position of their critics.
—Phil Plait, Discover Magazine, 31 May 2011
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'straw man.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near straw man
Cite this Entry
“Straw man.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/straw%20man. Accessed 4 Jul. 2024.
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