Chicken Little

noun

: one who warns of or predicts calamity especially without justification

Synonyms of Chicken Little

• Cassandra

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

The second allows the devil to slide into his DMs, utilizing a seduce-and-destroy approach that will eventually lead to Sutskever becoming OpenAI’s resident Chicken Little and the tech industry’s conscientious objector. — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 6 Oct. 2026

In fairness, the compulsion to go full-on Chicken Little is hard to resist. — Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 18 Sep. 2026

Chicken Little may have been onto something! — Phil Plait, Scientific American, 12 June 2026

Is this part of their Chicken Little routine? — Josh Boak, Fortune, 17 Apr. 2026

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

Rhymes for Chicken Little

• acquittal
• belittle
• committal
• hospital
• popliteal
• submittal
• transmittal
• brittle
• kittel
• kittle
• spital
• spittle