sycophant

noun sy·co·phant \ ˈsi-kə-fənt also ˈsī- & -ˌfant \

Definition of sycophant

:a servile self-seeking flatterer

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sycophant

adjective

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Examples of sycophant in a Sentence

His press conference on January 11 was all aimed toward a single moment. The President was at his rostrum at the Élysée, with a crowd of courtiers, journalists, and sycophants herded behind a velvet rope. One reporter was allowed across the rope to put the same question, in exactly the same words, as he had put when Chirac had been nearing the end of his first term: Would he perhaps consider standing for a further five years? —Julian Barnes, New York Review, 29 Mar. 2007
And swirling all around were coteries of agents, managers, execs, and moneymen; publicists and journalists, gawkers and sycophants. —Daniel Fierman et al., Entertainment Weekly, 9 June 2006
Where his father liked to have sycophants, he likes to be with intellectuals. He likes confrontation. —Franklin Foer, New Republic, 14 Jan. 2002
when her career was riding high, the self-deluded actress often mistook sycophants for true friends

Recent Examples of sycophant from the Web

The Warriors were up, three games to one, and planning celebratory excursions to Napa and noodling with the latest toys coughed up by Silicon Valley sycophants.

— the new york times, New York Times, "Sorry, Cavaliers. It’s Warriors (in Four, Five, Six or Seven).," 31 May 2017
But the unions and their school board sycophants won’t allow it.

— larry sand, Orange County Register, "Is teacher shortage a union-created problem?," 26 Mar. 2017
Conservative sycophant and Donald Trump Fan Club president Sean Hannity got a big ol' dose of the truth courtesy of veteran newsman Ted Koppel in a CBS Sunday Morning segment on the polarization of American political views.

— peter wade, Esquire, "Ted Koppel Told Sean Hannity the Truth: You're Hurting America," 26 Mar. 2017
A fake Twitter account is only one of the early signs of impending celebrity, along with well-meaning admirers, autograph-seekers, groupies and sycophants.

— david waldstein, New York Times, "Greg Bird Draws Attention and Praise, Hit After Hit," 17 Mar. 2017
All About Eve Davis cemented her status as one of the all-time greats in this 1950 drama, playing a venerable theater star desperate to shake off an ambitious sycophant.

— vanityfair.com, "Bette v. Joan: 11 Things You Need to See Before Diving Into Feud," 3 Mar. 2017
Robots are menial servants and sycophants rather than colleagues, and human slavery persists.

— manu saadia, The New Yorker, "Why Peter Thiel Fears “Star Trek”," 13 Jan. 2017
But there are real monsters in Weiner’s story as well, from the ascetic and ruthless revolutionary Sergei Nechaev to the coterie of sycophants (among them Alan Greenspan) who gathered around Rand.

— nicholas dames, New York Times, "Ayn Rand and the Literary Origins of the Financial Crisis," 2 Dec. 2016
Hollywood is turning from a batch of soulless, bloodsucking sycophants into a pack of mindless, shambling corpses looking to destroy your brain.

— angela watercutter, WIRED, "Zombies Take a Bite Out of Bloodsuckers at Comic-Con," 20 July 2011

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

Did You Know?

In ancient Greece, sykophantēs meant "slanderer." It derives from two other Greek words, sykon (meaning "fig") and phainein (meaning "to show or reveal"). How did fig revealers become slanderers? One theory has to do with the taxes Greek farmers were required to pay on the figs they brought to market. Apparently, the farmers would sometimes try to avoid making the payments, but squealers—fig revealers—would fink on them, and they would be forced to pay. Another possible source is a sense of the word fig meaning "a gesture or sign of contempt" (as thrusting a thumb between two fingers). In any case, Latin retained the "slanderer" sense when it borrowed a version of sykophantēs, but by the time English speakers in the 16th century borrowed it as sycophant, the squealers had become flatterers.

Origin and Etymology of sycophant

Latin sycophanta slanderer, swindler, from Greek sykophantēs slanderer, from sykon fig + phainein to show — more at fancy

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1575

See Words from the same year

sycophant Synonyms

Synonyms

apple-polisher, bootlicker, brownnoser, fawner, flunky (also flunkey or flunkie), lickspittle, suck-up, toady

Related Words

yes-man; apparatchik, company man; hanger-on, leech, parasite, sponge, sponger; henchman, lackey, lapdog, minion, running dog, satellite, slave, stooge; admirer, cultist, devotee, enthusiast, fan, groveler, idolater (or idolator), worshipper (or worshiper), zealot; adherent, camp follower, convert, disciple, follower, me-tooer, partisan (also partizan), pupil, votary

Synonym Discussion of sycophant

parasite, sycophant, toady, leech, sponge mean a usually obsequious flatterer or self-seeker. parasite applies to one who clings to a person of wealth, power, or influence or is useless to society.