as in flunkey
a person who flatters another in order to get ahead
she's such a bootlicker that I don't take any of her compliments seriously
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bootlicker
Noun
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There are still sycophants and acolytes, but no savvy producers to make his head-scratching moves appear to make sense.—
Laura Bassett,
Rolling Stone,
14 Apr. 2025 -
This is the grim lesson—one that the ambitious sycophants who attach themselves to power have always been slow to learn—of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall Trilogy, a series of fat, dense novels that filter the reign of Henry VIII through the rise and fall of his Machiavellian advisor, Thomas Cromwell.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
28 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Republican lickspittles like Lindsey Graham and Jim Banks praised Trump and trashed Zelenskyy while Russian leaders rejoiced.—
Maureen Dowd,
The Mercury News,
4 Mar. 2025
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Of course, being a junior senator and attaching your name to legislation that has little chance of being enacted—none of those have bills passed—is very different from being Vice-President and chief lickspittle to Trump.—
John Cassidy,
The New Yorker,
22 July 2024
Noun
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Courtesy of Lucasfilm On an isolated farm at the outer reaches of a fascist empire, a mid-level government toady interrogates his victims.—
Jake Kleinman,
Wired News,
23 Apr. 2025
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The anecdote illustrates the contrast in competence and grasp of real world dangers between Reagan’s team and Trump’s toadies — and also between these presidents themselves.—
George Skelton,
Los Angeles Times,
31 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Besides being massively ignorant, Musk and his minions are drunk on ideology.—
Steve Chapman,
Chicago Tribune,
7 May 2025
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Through their minions in the media, in Big Pharma, and woke teachers manipulating their children's minds, these elites hold an iron grip on society.—
Jason D. Greenblatt,
MSNBC Newsweek,
2 Apr. 2025
Noun
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If Trump wanted to relieve Adams from his criminal indictment, the president could simply have pardoned the mayor, instead his henchman Emil Bove concocted a scheme to temporarily suspend the case against Adams provided the mayor went along with the Trump immigration agenda.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
3 Apr. 2025
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Especially when Cadfael’s worldly wisdom and endless curiosity puts him at odds with his stricter brethren, including the authoritarian Prior Robert (Michael Culver) and his deliciously weasely henchman Brother Jerome (Julian Firth).—
Mary McNamara,
Los Angeles Times,
21 Mar. 2025
Noun
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But the joke’s on us — Republican senators, who are the only players with any real power to stop them, have simply decided not to, all so that President Camacho can play at government with his favorite suck-ups.—
S.E. Cupp,
New York Daily News,
4 Feb. 2025
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Sara Fischer, Dave Lawler Dec 23, 2024 - Politics & Policy Media's suck-up moment Fearing political retribution and strained by new business challenges, media companies that once covered President-elect Trump with skepticism — and in many cases, disdain — are reconsidering their approach.—
Sara Fischer,
Axios,
14 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Bathing in the blood of virgins is just one such regime, and god help the flunky who dares displease milady.—
Dennis Harvey,
Variety,
2 May 2025
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No matter what spec-chart flunkies might say about a car that merely hits 60 mph in 3.1 seconds, GT 63 proved as ferocious and exhilarating as any front-engine GT car available, whether German, Italian or English.—
Mark Ewing,
Forbes,
30 Dec. 2024
Noun
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But things get gory for the many cicadas that are unlucky enough to be infected by the deadly fungal parasite Massospora cicadina.—
Sara Hashemi,
Smithsonian Magazine,
8 May 2025
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But sometimes, like a tick on a dog, one animal takes advantage of another — a parasite.—
Irene Wright,
Miami Herald,
6 May 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Bootlicker.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bootlicker. Accessed 18 May. 2025.
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