Pinocchio

[ pi-noh-kee-oh ]

noun

1. the hero of Carlo Collodi's children's story, The Adventures of Pinocchio (1883), a wooden puppet who comes to life as a boy and whose nose grows longer whenever he tells a lie.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Pinocchio¹

< Italian: literally, pine seed, pine cone, equivalent to pin ( o ) pine ¹ + -occhio < Vulgar Latin *-uc ( u ) lu ( m ), Latin -i-culum; -i-, -cule ¹

Example Sentences

We’re not going to offer a Pinocchio rating, as Manchin was just carrying a card captured by a photographer.

From Washington Post

These three GOP statements may sound similar, but when we parsed each of them, we wound up giving three different Pinocchio ratings.

From Washington Post

This is a good example of how a politician can turn political gold into Pinocchio dust.

From Washington Post

The disbelief was evident in article after article, with one conservative site using “President Pinocchio” in its headline.

From The Daily Beast

Louie encounters a blue-collar maintenance worker who tells him a joke about Pinocchio—incorrectly.

From The Daily Beast

I kept grabbing his nose and pulling it, calling him Pinocchio.

From The Daily Beast

The film is as good as any Disney animated feature ever made—as magical as Pinocchio, Snow White, The Little Mermaid.

From The Daily Beast

But Pinocchio, instead of returning it, put it on his own head and was in consequence nearly smothered.

From Project Gutenberg

At this information Pinocchio threw himself on the ground and would not take another step.

From Project Gutenberg

Pinocchio turned round and saw a big cricket crawling slowly up the wall.

From Project Gutenberg

Poor Pinocchio, whose eyes were still half shut from sleep, had not as yet discovered that his feet were burnt off.

From Project Gutenberg

It ended in so much being said and done that the soldier at last set Pinocchio at liberty and led Geppetto to prison.

From Project Gutenberg