Chicken Little

noun

Synonyms of Chicken Littlenext
: one who warns of or predicts calamity especially without justification

Synonyms of Chicken Little

Relevance
See All Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus

Examples of Chicken Little in a Sentence

some called him Chicken Little, but the climatologist had the data to back up his warning on global warming
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Is this part of their Chicken Little routine? — Josh Boak, Fortune, 17 Apr. 2026 Chicken Little may have been onto something! — Phil Plait, Scientific American, 12 June 2026 In response, advocates for renewables have adopted a Chicken Little posture. — Editorial, Boston Herald, 8 Sep. 2025 Imagine how validated Rainbeau must feel, like Chicken Little when the town wakes up to the fact that aliens are actually coming. — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 2 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for Chicken Little

Word History

Etymology

from the fable in which a chick attempts to warn other barnyard animals that the sky is falling after she is struck on the head by a chance falling object

First Known Use

1895, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of Chicken Little was in 1895

Rhymes for Chicken Little

See All Rhymes for Chicken Little

Browse Nearby Words

chicken Kiev
Chicken Little
chicken-livered
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Chicken Little.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Chicken%20Little. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All