From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishchameleoncha‧me‧le‧on /kəˈmiːliən/ noun [countable] 1 HBAa lizard that can change its colour to match the colours around it2 CHANGE FROM ONE THING TO ANOTHERsomeone who changes their ideas, behaviour etc to fit different situations
Examples from the Corpus
chameleon• Putting a chameleon on a mirror seemed a simple enough experiment that I thought that even a writer could perform it.• She began to shed the brilliant borrowed chameleon plumage, she wanted to let Lucy in.• A lime-green chameleon, stretching from fence to shrub in torpid motion, beguiled us.• He has been a nimble chameleon, bending with every turn in Whitehall attitudes to education.• The Congressman has a reputation as a political chameleon.• The chameleon responds to the image it has generated, just as the shrimp responds to the atmosphere it has generated.Origin chameleon (1300-1400) Old French camelion, from Latin chamaeleon, from Greek, from chamai “on the ground” + leon “lion” 