paper tiger

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English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

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Calque from Chinese 紙老虎纸老虎 (zhǐlǎohǔ), a phrase made famous by Mao Zedong, but with ancient origins. An English translation first appeared in a 1828 book by British missionary and lexicographer Robert Morrison.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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paper tiger (plural paper tigers)

  1. (idiomatic) A seemingly fierce or powerful person, country or organisation without the ability to back up their words; apparently powerful but actually ineffective.
    Synonym: sheep in wolf's clothing
    Antonym: wolf in sheep's clothing
    • 2008 August 23, Ian Kershaw, “The twisted road to war”, in The Guardian[1]:
      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.
    • 2010 October 11, Roger Cohen, “Iran, the Paper Tiger”, in The New York Times[2], →ISSN:
      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.

Translations

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See also

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