1. straw man - Noun
2. straw man - Verb
A doll or scarecrow, particularly one stuffed with straw.
(figuratively) An innocuous person or someone of nominal or lesser importance, as a front man or straw boss.
(figuratively) An insubstantial concept, idea, endeavor or argument, particularly one deliberately set up to be weakly supported, e.g. by misrepresenting an opponent's argument by broadening or narrowing the scope of a premise, so that it can be easily knocked down; especially to impugn the strength of any related or contrasted thing or idea.
Antonym: steelman
Synonym of straw buyer
straw man (third-person singular simple present straw mans, present participle straw manning, simple past and past participle straw manned)
To falsely attribute an insubstantial argument (a straw man argument) to another through direct declaration or indirect implication; to put words in someone's mouth.
Coordinate term: steelman
Person A: "Cats have claws."Person B: "Not all cats have claws: some are declawed."Person A: "Don't straw man me; I never said all."
You have just constructed a straw man so large you could burn it in the desert and hold an annoying festival around it. John Oliver (comedian)
For thousands of years, human beings have been obsessed with beauty, truth, love, honor, altruism, courage, social relationships, art, and God. They all go together as subjective experiences, and it's a straw man to set God up as the delusion. If he is, then so is truth itself or beauty itself. Deepak Chopra
Drexler maintained that both were straw man arguments, and in the case of enzymes, wrote that "Prof. Source: Internet
Contrary to the blatant straw man many Democrats are railing against, nobody ever said it was McCarthyite to want to investigate claims of Russian hacking. Source: Internet
Our task was to guide the Hawk so it sighted the target and restrain it from attacking the horse in the event the Hawk decided it wanted the larger, edible target instead of the straw man. Source: Internet
So, I become this straw man of sorts so people can say, ‘Nah, it ain’t Colin, it’s the smart nigga that goes to Berkeley.’ Source: Internet