button pusher
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.92 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
4
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A low-skilled or unskilled worker: someone from whom one can expect little or nothing more than rote pushing of buttons (not showing, for example, critical thinking, insight, or leadership).
Derogatory
Example Sentences
- "Near-synonyms: gadfly, goader, provocateur, provoker"
- "When you're dealing with Tom, you need to keep in mind that he can be a button pusher sometimes. Stay cool, and don't reinforce that behavior."
- "Bill has been working here for 4 years and is looking for ways to upskill. He says he doesn't want to be a button pusher forever."
Etymology
In the provoker sense, by a metaphor in which the recipient's emotions can be manipulated on command as if prompted by literal control buttons. Thus also tangentially comparable with a puppet master who is pulling the strings to manipulate puppets.
Usage
Inflected Forms
button pushers (plural)