sycophantic
/ˌsɪkəˈfantɪk
/adjective
Behaving or done in an obsequious way in order to gain advantage: a sycophantic interview...
- I suppose there was the inevitable, uncharitable flicker of hostility towards a woman who could, in this day and age, devote herself with such sycophantic subservience to men.
- I guess some people thought I was a creep, offering sycophantic praise of someone who happens to be my boss.
- I not only love movies, I'm also fascinated with the larger star-making machine that is Hollywood and the sycophantic press that supports it.
Synonyms
obsequious, servile, subservient, deferential, grovelling, toadying, fawning, flattering, ingratiating, cringing, unctuous, oily, slimy, creeping, crawling, truckling, slavish, bowing and scraping, Uriah Heepish, gushing
informal bootlicking, smarmy
vulgar slang arse-licking, arse-kissing, brown-nosing
North American vulgar slang suckholing
Derivatives
sycophantically
- There is a public face to this film which it wears to interact with its audience - a face that is comforting, familiar, sycophantically seeking to reassure us with the empty surprises it assumes we all crave.
- On the front row only parents, no fashion media darlings gasping sycophantically, scribbling furiously before sharpening their talons and publishing crippling reviews.
- It is important to know how to laugh sycophantically.