Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
puppetlike

puppetlike

7.4
Moved and controlled by someone else like a small toy
  • adjective
  • /ˈpʌpɪtˌlaɪk/
translation icon : como un títere
  • She spoke in a puppetlike manner, mimicking the voice of the character she played.

Examples

  • He had a puppetlike gait, swaying from side to side as he walked.

  • He dances them toward each other in a puppetlike mating ritual, making kissing sounds and narrating.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • There was something irresistibly puppetlike about the way the man bounced up and down when he walked: something that struck the young Alexander as both comical and graceful at the same time.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • The child's movements were puppetlike, as if someone else was controlling him.

Synonyms

robotlike
vspuppetlike
6.8

Acting like a machine without feeling or choice

is controlled or moved by others rather than simply mechanical or unemotional

Antonyms

independent
984 2.3

Not controlled by others

self-directed
1 5.1

A person who decides and acts on their own without being told

How Controlled

puppetlike
7.4
independent
984 2.3

Surface Forms

puppetlike positive

Morphology

puppetlike = puppet (transparent) = puppet + like

The adjective is directly formed by adding the productive suffix '-like' to 'puppet', meaning 'resembling or behaving like a puppet'.

Etymology

The word puppetlike comes from puppet, which once meant a small 'doll' that people move with strings. So, to be puppetlike is to act as if someone else is moving you or controlling you.