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the organ grinder, not the monkey

Syllables: the or·gan grind·er, not the monk·eyUK/ðiː ˈɔːɡən ˌɡɹaɪndə nɒt ðə ˈmʌŋki//ði ˈɔɹɡən ˌɡɹaɪndəɹ nɑt ðə ˈmʌŋki/

the organ grinder, not the monkey noun: synonym of organ grinder (“the person who is in charge, rather than a lackey or representative; the person truly responsible for another's actions”).

the organ grinder, not the monkey: synonym of organ grinder (“the person who is in charge, rather than a lackey or representative; the...
Image: Overpeck (photographer, Hamilton, Ohio, USA), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

the organ grinder, not the monkey (plural the organ grinders, not the monkeys)

  1. (idiomatic) Synonym of organ grinder (“the person who is in charge, rather than a lackey or representative; the person truly responsible for another's actions”).
    • If my hon. Friend said that the headquarters of the Board was to be situated in one of the regions, that would be some help. We need more than branch offices and subsidiaries. We want the organ grinders, not the monkeys.1976 March 5, Eric Ogden, “Second Reading of the English Development Agencies Bill”, in House of Commons Debates (House of Commons of the United Kingdom), volume 906, London: Parliament of the United...
    • And really it is the organ-grinder, not the monkey, who should be shot.1981, New Society: The Social Science Weekly, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 240, column 3
    Synonyms:
    organ grinder

Synonyms of the organ grinder, not the monkey

Forms of the organ grinder, not the monkey

pluralthe organ grinders, not the monkeys
alternative formthe organ-grinder, not the monkey

Origin of the organ grinder, not the monkey

From the common 19th-century practice of organ grinders training monkeys to dance to music played on a barrel organ in order to perform on the street and solicit donations.

Words that rhyme with the organ grinder, not the monkey

5 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about the organ grinder, not the monkey

What does the organ grinder, not the monkey mean?
The organ grinder, not the monkey means synonym of organ grinder (“the person who is in charge, rather than a lackey or representative; the person truly responsible for another's actions”).
What part of speech is the organ grinder, not the monkey?
The organ grinder, not the monkey is a noun.
How do you pronounce the organ grinder, not the monkey?
The organ grinder, not the monkey is pronounced /ðiː ˈɔːɡən ˌɡɹaɪndə nɒt ðə ˈmʌŋki/ (UK).
What is the plural of the organ grinder, not the monkey?
The plural of the organ grinder, not the monkey is the organ grinders, not the monkeys.

Words near the organ grinder, not the monkey in the dictionary

  1. the oldest trick in the book
  2. The Olgas
  3. the one
  4. the one that got away
  5. the ones
  6. the organ grinder, not the monkey
  7. the organ grinders, not the monkeys
  8. the organ-grinder, not the monkey
  9. the other body
  10. the other day
  11. the other place

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: the organ grinder, not the monkey (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-the organ grinder, not the monkey.oga.

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