mouthpiece

plural mouthpieces · alternative mouth-piece

1. A part of any device that functions in or near the mouth, especially:
   1. The part of a telephone that is held close to the mouth.

      "It's 'Soapy,' talking from somewhere down there," rapped out Nickle, covering the mouthpiece as he spoke back into the room. "Get Joolby if you can, one of you."

      1934, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], The Bravo of London

   2. The part of a wind instrument that is held in or against the mouth.
   3. equestrianismA bit.
2. A mouthguard.
3. broadlyderogatoryoftenA spokesman; one who speaks on behalf of someone else.

   The novel's protagonist serves as a mouthpiece for the author's political views.

   4 more examples

   Seeming “real” has been the aim since the earliest police procedurals, which began a long tradition of Hollywood productions acting as a mouthpiece for police departments.

   2021 April 24, Adrian Horton, “‘The uprisings opened up the door’: the TV cop shows confronting a harmful legacy”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   Xi Jinping has told the People’s Liberation Army to “focus all its energy on fighting” in preparation for war, a Chinese Communist party mouthpiece has reported.

   2022 November 9, Verna Yu, “Xi Jinping tells China’s army to focus on preparation for war”, in The Guardian

   Rightwing media mouthpieces and ICE get both barrels in South Park’s latest zeitgeist-capturing satire.

   2025 August 7, Zach Vasquez, “From puppy murder to racist podcasts: South Park’s anti-deportation episode is utterly ruthless TV”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   So when ex-president Dmitry Medvedev, Putin’s mouthpiece, threatens Europe with nuclear weapons, as he often does, that ultimate madness cannot be wholly ruled out.

   2026 June 14, Simon Tisdall, “Russia is losing the war in Ukraine, and Putin is desperate. But that’s when he’s at his most dangerous”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

4. slangA lawyer for the defense.

   The Robber had angrily demanded his mouthpiece and when the lawyer had finally been allowed to get to them they had been automatically sprung.

   1954, Ian Fleming, “Death of a Pelican”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 151