英和和英

発音

名詞

paper tiger (plural paper tigers)

1. (idiomatic) Something or someone that appears powerful, strong or threatening but is in reality weak, ineffective, or unable to withstand challenge.

   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, archived from the original on 5 June 2023:

     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, →ISSN, archived from the original on 11 February 2021:

     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.

   • 2025 September 27, Luke Harding, “Putin preparing to attack another European country, Zelenskyy says”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN, archived from the original on 5 November 2025:

     Trump also said Russia’s economy was in big trouble and described its military as a “paper tiger”.

参考

Further reading

• paper tiger on Wikipedia.Wikipedia