tin man
1
8.1
- noun
- /tɪn mæn/
- Offensive
:
insensible
- People often called him a tin man because he rarely displayed any compassion towards others.
Examples
-
But you have moments of I'm the Tin Man who got a heart.
-
I'm a little tin man living in a tin world, and it's so hard to get by.
-
Despite her tough exterior, she often realized that she was being perceived as a tin man for her lack of emotional expression.
-
After losing his job, he became a tin man, shutting himself off from friends and family to avoid showing his feelings.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A man who behaves like a machine and shows no feelings
Antonyms
How Compassionate
1
2.7
- Offensive
1
8.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is directly compositional: 'tin' names the material and 'man' denotes a (figurine or playing) figure, so 'tin man' straightforwardly means a man-shaped object made of tin. This material+object compounding is a common, cross-linguistic pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Tin man is used for someone who seems without feelings because of the Tin Man in the story who had no real heart, so calling a person a tin man says they seem 'unfeeling'.