patsy
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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As Warren Buffett wrote, “If you’ve been playing poker for half an hour and you still don’t know who the patsy is, you’re the patsy.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026
Three days later, he recanted that confession and spent the rest of his life professing his innocence, claiming that he was made a patsy for the real assassin, a man he called “Raoul.”
From Slate ● Dec. 1, 2025
Getting rid of Notre Dame from football schedule to play a patsy?
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2024
Again, the easiest marks are the ones who don't realize they're being set up as a patsy.
From Salon ● Oct. 26, 2023
Without even perfunctory regrets at the man’s passing, he accused Luthuli of being a patsy of the white man, mainly on the grounds that the chief had accepted the Nobel Peace Prize.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
As Rhodes found out, however, it's not so easy to pawn your misdeeds off on patsies.
From Salon ● Dec. 12, 2022
At times, the prosecution team has suggested that reporters can be patsies in that strategy.
From Washington Post ● May 21, 2022
He’s thunked the thinkpiece, and it’s up to the patsies to enact it.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 27, 2019
“We all know life’s just a joke,” he squawks, “but those patsies think it has meaning! They’ll never get the gag, not even when they’re hit by the punch line. Lay it on! Bigly!”
From The New Yorker ● Jul. 18, 2019
"But that assumption—a whole continent of patsies —simply didn't make sense."
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Vocabulary lists containing patsy
