puppeteer

English

Etymology

From puppet +‎ -eer.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌpʌpɪˈtɪə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌpʌpəˈtɪ(ə)ɹ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: pup‧pet‧eer

Noun

puppeteer (plural puppeteers)

1. A person who uses a puppet.

   Synonym: puppet master

   Hyponym: sock puppeteer

2. (figurative) Someone who is manipulative and thus able to get people to do what they want or to make events develop in the way they want in a puppet-like manner.

Derived terms

• puppeteering
• sock puppeteer

Translations

person who uses a puppet

• Azerbaijani: kuklaçı
• Belarusian: ля́лечнік m (ljálječnik)
• Bulgarian: куклово́д m (kuklovód)
• Czech: loutkoherec m, loutkář m
• Dutch: poppenspeler (nl) m
• Esperanto: marionetisto, marionetistino
• Faroese: dukkuførari m
• French: marionnettiste (fr) m or f
• German: Puppenspieler (de) m, Puppenspielerin (de) f
• Greek: μαριονετίστας (el) m (marionetístas), κουκλοπαίχτης (el) m (kouklopaíchtis)
• Hungarian: bábjátékos (hu)
• Indonesian: dalang (id)
• Italian: burattinaio (it) m, burattinaia f, marionettista m, puparo (it) m
• Kyrgyz: куурчакчы (kuurcakcı)
• Macedonian: куклар m (kuklar)
• Malay: dalang
• Maori: ringa karetao
• Ottoman Turkish: قوقله‌جی (kuklacı)
• Polish: lalkarz (pl) m, lalkarka f, animator (pl) m, animatorka (pl) f
• Portuguese: marionetista m or f, fantocheiro m
• Romanian: păpușar (ro) m, marionetist (ro) m (rare), marionetistă f (rare)
• Russian: куклово́д (ru) m (kuklovód), ку́кольник (ru) m (kúkolʹnik)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: лу̏тка̄р m

  Roman: lȕtkār (sh) m

• Slovak: bábkar (sk) m, bábkoherec m
• Slovene: lutkar (sl) m, lutkarica f
• Spanish: titiritero (es) m, muñequero m, marionetista m or f
• Swedish: dockspelare c, marionettspelare c
• Turkish: kuklacı (tr)
• Ukrainian: лялька́р m (ljalʹkár)

someone who is manipulative

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 控制狂

• French: manipulateur (fr) m
• Italian: manipolatore (it) m, burattinaio (it) m
• Romanian: manipulant (ro) m, manipulator (ro) m

See also

• organ grinder
• the organ grinder, not the monkey

Verb

puppeteer (third-person singular simple present puppeteers, present participle puppeteering, simple past and past participle puppeteered) (transitive)

1. To control (a puppet).
2. (figurative) To control (an event, person, or organization) from behind the scenes.

Translations

to control (a puppet)

to control (an event, person, or organization) from behind the scenes

Further reading

• puppeteer on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “puppeteer”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• "puppeteer" in WordNet 3.1, Princeton University, 2011.
• “puppeteer”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.