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# strawman

noun (a strawman or straw man, strawmen / straw men); verb (strawman, strawmanning — informal)

«strawman» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. (logic) A strawman is an unfair trick in an argument: you change the other person's idea into a weaker or sillier version and then attack that instead of what they really said. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/strawman/#m1)
2. A straw man is also a figure made of straw, like a scarecrow or a dummy for practice. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/strawman/#m2)
3. (informal) A straw man can be a person used to hide who is really behind something. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/strawman/#m3)

### In the lessons

In lessons on logic, debating and checking the news, the strawman is a common "fallacy" (a mistake in reasoning) — to argue fairly, repeat the other person's real point first. Example: "I think we should have less homework." "So you think children shouldn't learn anything!" That reply is a strawman.

### Examples

- Saying I hate all vegetables because I don't like peas is a strawman. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/strawman/#x1)
- "You want less homework, so you don't care about learning!" — that's a strawman argument. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/strawman/#x2)
- Politicians sometimes attack a strawman instead of the real idea. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/strawman/#x3)
- The scarecrow was a straw man stuffed with hay. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/strawman/#x4)
- Don't strawman my point; listen to what I actually said. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/strawman/#x5)
- Our debate coach taught us to spot strawman arguments. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/strawman/#x6)
- Knights practised with their lances on a straw man. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/strawman/#x7)

### Note

Written as one word (strawman) or two (straw man); both are used. It is a fallacy, not just a disagreement: it means misrepresenting someone's view. The fair opposite is called "steelmanning" — stating the other person's view in its strongest form.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «strawman» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/strawman/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«strawman» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/strawman.html) on Mova free.