1
as in advantage
the more favorable condition or position in a competition
your fluency in French should put you in the catbird seat for getting the Paris posting
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in center stage
the center of public attention
in the wake of the natural disaster, this obscure bureaucrat was suddenly and unexpectedly thrust into the catbird seat
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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.
Recent Examples of catbird seat
The catbird seats were occupied instead by the titans of attention.
—
Ezra Klein, The Mercury News, 31 Jan. 2025
Seems to me that the Giants are in the catbird seat.
—Grant Brisbee, The Athletic, 24 July 2024
William Byron, on the other hand, is in the catbird seat among Hendrick Motorsports drivers and sits with a seven-point cushion above the cutoff line.
—Marco Rubio, Newsweek, 2 Nov. 2024
Brat is what happens when an auteur is given a budget and the catbird seat in the boardroom.
—Hazlitt, 17 July 2024
See All Example Sentences for catbird seat
Ezra Klein, The Mercury News, 31 Jan. 2025
Seems to me that the Giants are in the catbird seat.
—Grant Brisbee, The Athletic, 24 July 2024
William Byron, on the other hand, is in the catbird seat among Hendrick Motorsports drivers and sits with a seven-point cushion above the cutoff line.
—Marco Rubio, Newsweek, 2 Nov. 2024
Brat is what happens when an auteur is given a budget and the catbird seat in the boardroom.
—Hazlitt, 17 July 2024
See All Example Sentences for catbird seat
Recent Examples of Synonyms for catbird seat
Noun
-
Charles Koch has long been a foe of protectionism and an evangelist for free markets, competitive advantage and mutual benefit.—
Philip Elliott,
Time,
2 May 2025
-
College of Charleston brought in EAB to help market those advantages.—
Ron Lieber,
New York Times,
1 May 2025
Noun
-
Blue began the performance strutting down center stage doing her best model walk before flawlessly breaking into a rendition of the uptempo song’s choreography.—
Vivian Kwarm,
New York Daily News,
29 Apr. 2025
-
The life-sized, guitar-wielding cutout stood on a platform center stage, flanked by the choir Boone enlisted for the powerful rendition.—
Bailey Richards,
People.com,
19 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
The Indian army said in a statement late on Friday that drones were sighted in 26 locations across a wide area of India's west and northwest from Kashmir and states bordering Pakistan to the edge of the Arabian Sea.—
USA Today,
USA Today,
11 May 2025
-
Toll-takers on the Venetian Causeway were in their booths as the tornado swept through just yards away, tearing into trees at a small public park at water’s edge.—
Miami Herald Archives,
Miami Herald,
10 May 2025
Noun
-
Dean was famously private, preferring to stay far out of reach of his wife’s spotlight.—
Hannah Dailey,
Billboard,
2 May 2025
-
Kamala Harris to criticize Trump in high-profile return to spotlight Former Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver a speech Wednesday at Emerge America's 20th anniversary gala, using the platform to criticize Trump sharply.—
Amanda Castro,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
Yankees like Volpe, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt and Austin Wells will perhaps have an early upper hand with the new bats.—
David K. Li,
NBC news,
31 Mar. 2025
-
For the moment, Turkey has gained the strong upper hand in the current outcome, and Russia, in its hasty retreat, has suffered a devastating loss.—
Natasha Hall,
Foreign Affairs,
9 Dec. 2024
Noun
-
Typical Housing, downtown get top billing in Carter’s State of the City address Where are Gophers projected to go in NFL draft?—
Dane Mizutani,
Twin Cities,
22 Apr. 2025
-
Now the food blogger from Charlotte, North Carolina, is getting top billing at the White House thanks to President Donald Trump and Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again agenda.—
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy,
USA Today,
20 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
Microsoft’s whip hand, more than anything, else, comes down to cold hard cash.—
Jeremy Kahn,
Fortune,
19 Nov. 2023
-
The failure of the ‘red wave’ to materialize means that an old-fashioned socialist will have the whip hand over health care for the next two years.—
Joel Zinberg,
National Review,
30 Nov. 2022
Noun
-
The reclusive actor, who retreated from Hollywood's limelight in recent years, publicly battled the disease for much of the past decade, permanently losing his voice to a tracheotomy, but continuing to act and write.—
Jay Stahl,
USA Today,
4 Apr. 2025
-
The lawyers who constrained him, the generals who restrained him, the reporters who questioned him, the understudy who threatened him—the assorted producers and directors and designers and actors who had their own roles to play in the show—each, Trump fumed, dimmed his limelight.—
Megan Garber,
The Atlantic,
6 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Catbird seat.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/catbird%20seat. Accessed 13 May. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share