See paper tiger in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for paper tiger meaning in English (6.4kB)
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "zh",
"3": "-"
},
"expansion": "Calque of Chinese",
"name": "calque"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "紙老虎"
},
"expansion": "紙老虎／纸老虎 (zhǐlǎohǔ)",
"name": "zh-l"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Calque of Chinese 紙老虎／纸老虎 (zhǐlǎohǔ), a slogan used by Mao Zedong.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "paper tigers",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "paper tiger (plural paper tigers)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"antonyms": [
{
"word": "wolf in sheep's clothing"
}
],
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
"parents": [
"Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"parents": [
"Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Hebrew terms with redundant script codes",
"parents": [
"Terms with redundant script codes",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Khmer terms with redundant script codes",
"parents": [
"Terms with redundant script codes",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations",
"parents": [
"Terms with redundant transliterations",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2008 August 23, Ian Kershaw, “The twisted road to war”, in The Guardian",
"text": "The League of Nations was by this time scarcely even a paper tiger, devoid of credibility since its divisions and pusillanimity had been so clearly laid bare following Mussolini's invasion of Abyssinia in the autumn of 1935.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2010 October 11, Roger Cohen, “Iran, the Paper Tiger”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
"text": "Iran is a paper tiger, a postmodern threat: It has many uses but a third Western war against a Muslim country is a bridge too far.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A seemingly fierce or powerful person, country or organisation without the ability to back up their words; apparently powerful but actually ineffective."
],
"id": "en-paper_tiger-en-noun-BPeM7qxw",
"links": [
[
"fierce",
"fierce"
],
[
"person",
"person"
],
[
"without",
"without"
],
[
"ability",
"ability"
],
[
"ineffective",
"ineffective"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) A seemingly fierce or powerful person, country or organisation without the ability to back up their words; apparently powerful but actually ineffective."
],
"related": [
{
"word": "all bark and no bite"
},
{
"word": "one's bark is worse than one's bite"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "sheep in wolf's clothing"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "nan-hbl",
"lang": "Chinese",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"Hokkien"
],
"word": "好哄頭"
},
{
"code": "nan-hbl",
"lang": "Chinese",
"roman": "hó-háⁿ-thâu",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"Hokkien"
],
"word": "好哄头"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"word": "紙老虎"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "zhǐlǎohǔ",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"word": "纸老虎"
},
{
"code": "da",
"lang": "Danish",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "papirtiger"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "papieren tijger"
},
{
"code": "eo",
"lang": "Esperanto",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"word": "papera tigro"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"word": "paperitiikeri"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "tigre de papier"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "colosse aux pieds d’argile"
},
{
"code": "gl",
"lang": "Galician",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "tigre de papel"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "Papiertiger"
},
{
"code": "el",
"lang": "Greek",
"roman": "chártini tígri",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "χάρτινη τίγρη"
},
{
"code": "he",
"lang": "Hebrew",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"word": "רוח וצלצולים"
},
{
"code": "ga",
"lang": "Irish",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "tíogar páipéir"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "tigre di carta"
},
{
"alt": "はりこのとら",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "hariko no tora",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"word": "張り子の虎"
},
{
"code": "km",
"lang": "Khmer",
"roman": "klaa krɑdaah",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"word": "ខ្លាក្រដាស"
},
{
"code": "ko",
"lang": "Korean",
"roman": "jong'ihorang'i",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"word": "종이호랑이"
},
{
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "papirtiger"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "papierowy tygrys"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "tigre de papel"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "bumážnyj tigr",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "бума́жный тигр"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "tigre de papel"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "papperstiger"
},
{
"code": "th",
"lang": "Thai",
"roman": "sʉ̌ʉa-grà-dàat",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"word": "เสือกระดาษ"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"plural"
],
"word": "kağıttan kaplan"
},
{
"code": "uk",
"lang": "Ukrainian",
"roman": "paperóvyj tyhr",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "паперо́вий тигр"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"Mao Zedong"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-paper tiger.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/dd/En-au-paper_tiger.ogg/En-au-paper_tiger.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/En-au-paper_tiger.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"word": "paper tiger"
}
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "zh",
"3": "-"
},
"expansion": "Calque of Chinese",
"name": "calque"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "紙老虎"
},
"expansion": "紙老虎／纸老虎 (zhǐlǎohǔ)",
"name": "zh-l"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Calque of Chinese 紙老虎／纸老虎 (zhǐlǎohǔ), a slogan used by Mao Zedong.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "paper tigers",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "paper tiger (plural paper tigers)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"related": [
{
"word": "all bark and no bite"
},
{
"word": "one's bark is worse than one's bite"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"antonyms": [
{
"word": "wolf in sheep's clothing"
}
],
"categories": [
"English calques",
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
"English idioms",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"English terms calqued from Chinese",
"English terms derived from Chinese",
"English terms with audio links",
"English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"English terms with quotations",
"Hebrew terms with redundant script codes",
"Khmer terms with redundant script codes",
"Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2008 August 23, Ian Kershaw, “The twisted road to war”, in The Guardian",
"text": "The League of Nations was by this time scarcely even a paper tiger, devoid of credibility since its divisions and pusillanimity had been so clearly laid bare following Mussolini's invasion of Abyssinia in the autumn of 1935.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2010 October 11, Roger Cohen, “Iran, the Paper Tiger”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
"text": "Iran is a paper tiger, a postmodern threat: It has many uses but a third Western war against a Muslim country is a bridge too far.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A seemingly fierce or powerful person, country or organisation without the ability to back up their words; apparently powerful but actually ineffective."
],
"links": [
[
"fierce",
"fierce"
],
[
"person",
"person"
],
[
"without",
"without"
],
[
"ability",
"ability"
],
[
"ineffective",
"ineffective"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) A seemingly fierce or powerful person, country or organisation without the ability to back up their words; apparently powerful but actually ineffective."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "sheep in wolf's clothing"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"wikipedia": [
"Mao Zedong"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-paper tiger.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/dd/En-au-paper_tiger.ogg/En-au-paper_tiger.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/En-au-paper_tiger.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "nan-hbl",
"lang": "Chinese",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"Hokkien"
],
"word": "好哄頭"
},
{
"code": "nan-hbl",
"lang": "Chinese",
"roman": "hó-háⁿ-thâu",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"Hokkien"
],
"word": "好哄头"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"word": "紙老虎"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "zhǐlǎohǔ",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"word": "纸老虎"
},
{
"code": "da",
"lang": "Danish",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "papirtiger"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "papieren tijger"
},
{
"code": "eo",
"lang": "Esperanto",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"word": "papera tigro"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"word": "paperitiikeri"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "tigre de papier"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "colosse aux pieds d’argile"
},
{
"code": "gl",
"lang": "Galician",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "tigre de papel"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "Papiertiger"
},
{
"code": "el",
"lang": "Greek",
"roman": "chártini tígri",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "χάρτινη τίγρη"
},
{
"code": "he",
"lang": "Hebrew",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"word": "רוח וצלצולים"
},
{
"code": "ga",
"lang": "Irish",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "tíogar páipéir"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "tigre di carta"
},
{
"alt": "はりこのとら",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "hariko no tora",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"word": "張り子の虎"
},
{
"code": "km",
"lang": "Khmer",
"roman": "klaa krɑdaah",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"word": "ខ្លាក្រដាស"
},
{
"code": "ko",
"lang": "Korean",
"roman": "jong'ihorang'i",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"word": "종이호랑이"
},
{
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "papirtiger"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "papierowy tygrys"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "tigre de papel"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "bumážnyj tigr",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "бума́жный тигр"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "tigre de papel"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "papperstiger"
},
{
"code": "th",
"lang": "Thai",
"roman": "sʉ̌ʉa-grà-dàat",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"word": "เสือกระดาษ"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"plural"
],
"word": "kağıttan kaplan"
},
{
"code": "uk",
"lang": "Ukrainian",
"roman": "paperóvyj tyhr",
"sense": "paper tiger",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "паперо́вий тигр"
}
],
"word": "paper tiger"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.