puppeteer

From puppet +‎ -eer.

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

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

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

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.

• puppeteering
• sock puppeteer

• organ grinder
• the organ grinder, not the monkey

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.

• 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.