英和和英

発音

名詞

paper tiger (複数形 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 0362-4331:

     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.

参考

• all bark and no bite, one's bark is worse than one's bite