adulation

noun

ad·u·la·tion | \ ˌa-jə-ˈlā-shən

, -dyə, -də- \

Definition of adulation

: extreme or excessive admiration or flattery Celebrities often feed off the adulation of fans, but that acclaim can be fleeting and illusory.— Ruben Castenada During the campaign, he basked in the adulation of his fans and emphasized the promises that drew the biggest applause and the most retweets …— Peter Coy … she thought he'd be an egomaniac, spoiled by fame and public adulation.— Maureen Callahan … is only starting to reach the level of popular and critical adulation that bands work their entire lives to achieve …— Steve Kandell He had not fully understood his achievement until he returned home to an outpouring of adulation from local media.— David Müller

Other Words from adulation Synonyms Did you know? More Example Sentences Learn More About adulation

Other Words from adulation

adulate \ ˈa-jə-ˌlāt

, -dyə- , -də- \ transitive verb adulated; adulating; adulates

adulator \ ˈa-jə-ˌlā-tər

\ noun

adulatory \ ˈa-jə-lə-ˌtȯr-ē

\ adjective

adulatory crowds

Examples of adulation in a Sentence

The rugby player enjoyed the adulation of his fans. a writer who inspires adulation in her readers

Recent Examples on the Web Steve’s increasingly hollow words contain echoes of certain powerful men whose insufficient relationships with their fathers fostered insatiable needs for success and adulation. — Michael Ordoña, Los Angeles Times, 16 June 2022 Alas for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the adulation isn’t of him. — Christina Boyle, Los Angeles Times, 11 Mar. 2022 Fans chanted his name and lavished him with the kind of pure adulation that even Novak Djokovic, for instance, rarely receives in Paris. — Joshua Robinson, WSJ, 26 May 2022 Over the course of the six-week-and-counting trial, Vasquez has generated admiration, speculation and adulation online. — Marco Della Cava, USA TODAY, 25 May 2022 The most memorable part of Top Gun: Maverick — and the scenes that will make new generations swell with pride and adulation for good old American heroism — are the dogfights and tactical maneuvers of the pilots. — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 May 2022 Still, the fizz and adulation has nearly always entailed an element of activism. — Washington Post, 22 Mar. 2022 Don’t expect a medal or adulation for doing something normal like emptying the dishwasher or taking care of your own children. — oregonlive, 22 Feb. 2022 Freed from the complexities of language or the context of history, the former president spins a dreamscape of adulation and triumph. — Washington Post, 11 Feb. 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'adulation.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for adulation

Middle English adulacioun "insincere praise, flattery," borrowed from Anglo-French, borrowed from Latin adūlātiōn-, adūlātiō, from adūlārī "to fawn upon (of dogs), praise insincerely" (of uncertain origin) + -tiōn-, -tiō, suffix of verbal action

Note: On the presumption that it is a denominal verb, Latin adūlārī has been compared with Sanskrit vāla-, vāra- "hair of a horse's tail, horsehair," Lithuanian valaĩ "horse's tail," though this is difficult both semantically and phonetically. More recently, the base of Latin avidus "greedy, eager" has been proposed as a source (see avid), via a prefixed *ad-awido-, syncopated to *ad-audo-, then with the second d dissimilated to l, yielding *adūlo-, "eagerly seeking something, flattering."