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puppeteer

UK/ˌpʌpɪˈtɪə/US/ˌpʌpəˈtɪ(ə)ɹ/
nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,641 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: puppeteers

A puppeteer is somebody who works puppets. A skilled puppeteer, the puppeteer behind the screen, train as a puppeteer.

The craft is making the audience forget you are there, and in Japanese bunraku three of them work one figure in full view of the audience, dressed in black, and it works anyway. Figuratively a puppeteer is whoever pulls the strings from behind.

Ashwin Geet Dsa · CC BY-SA 4.0

Definitions of puppeteer

  1. 1nounpuppeteerSomebody who works puppets.B2+

    “The puppeteer hid behind the curtain and made the little wooden king dance.”

puppeteer is a performer.

Where it comes from

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *peh₂w-

  2. Latin

    pupa — doll, puppet; girl

  3. Middle French

    poupette

  4. Middle English

    popet

  5. English

    puppet

  6. English, today

    puppeteer

From puppet + -eer. puppet comes from Middle English popet, probably from, though attested earlier than, Middle French poupette, diminutive of poupée (cf. also Medieval Latin pupata), ultimately derived from Latin pupa (“doll, puppet; girl”). The nominal form first appears c. 1531, and the verbal form c. 1635. See also puppy.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

puppeteer in the wild

  • Frank Richard Oznowicz, known professionally as Frank Oz, is an American puppeteer, filmmaker, and actor.

    Frank Oz

  • The son of puppeteers, Oz worked as an apprentice puppeteer during his teenage years in Oakland, California.

    Frank Oz

  • The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the audience.

    Puppeteer

  • Robinson is an American puppeteer, best known for his work on Sesame Street, having performed the characters of Telly Monster, Mr.

    Martin P. Robinson

  • John Lovelady is an American retired puppeteer who worked with the Muppets, including on the PBS series Sesame Street.

    John Lovelady

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the pupa family

puppetpuppeteer

puppeteer — used about once every 2,709 pages · #7,641 · point at the bar for the others