as in to fuss
to use flattery or the doing of favors in order to win approval especially from a superior
the kind of office in which people feel they have to bootlick in order to get ahead
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Recent Examples of bootlick
Call it the bootlicking trickle-down-effect.
—
Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 26 Jan. 2026
Those who delay this fate the longest are bootlicking mediocrities — the survival of the sycophants.
—Michael Gerson, Anchorage Daily News, 18 Mar. 2018
Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 26 Jan. 2026
Those who delay this fate the longest are bootlicking mediocrities — the survival of the sycophants.
—Michael Gerson, Anchorage Daily News, 18 Mar. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bootlick
Verb
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Need to put a filling dinner on the table, but don't have a lot of time to fuss?—
Alana Al-Hatlani,
Southern Living,
22 Dec. 2025
-
Dunst doesn’t get fussed about that sort of thing.—
Kate Erbland,
IndieWire,
27 Nov. 2025
Verb
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At the White House, the unwell billionaire rambles, spews insults at those who refuse to kowtow and dozes off in meetings.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
16 Jan. 2026
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Two years ago, she got fired from her $196,551 hack sinecure at the Cannabis Control Commission for not sufficiently kowtowing to the woke mob.—
Howie Carr,
Boston Herald,
22 Nov. 2025
Verb
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The Empire was a sinister, one-note shadow: faceless Storm Troopers, toadying fascistic generals, a cackling emperor, and of course Darth Vader, an enigmatic demon masked and cloaked in black.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
25 Apr. 2025
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The only other psychological need that rivals his thirst for toadying is the pursuit of .—
Matt Robison,
MSNBC Newsweek,
31 Mar. 2025
Verb
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This indulgent treat already has fans drooling—and many Costco members have been running to their local bakeries to see if the Cookie Bar Cake is still in stock.—
Sophia Beams,
Better Homes & Gardens,
20 Jan. 2026
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That’s a job for Hankton, who will still have an immensely talented unit, one most coaches would drool over.—
Cameron Teague Robinson,
New York Times,
16 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Unless Trump’s art of the deal is all about truckling to Putin.—
Maureen Dowd,
The Mercury News,
4 Mar. 2025
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During the campaign, most of Trump’s fallen rivals blasted him in exceptional terms—before truckling to support him against Hillary Clinton.—
James Fallows,
The Atlantic,
8 Oct. 2017
Verb
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The flattery must forever escalate and grow more fawning, until every follower’s dignity is shorn away.—
David Brooks,
Mercury News,
24 Jan. 2026
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The ordinary pleasures and frustrations of interdependence wither under fawning’s pathologizing scaffold.—
Katy Waldman,
New Yorker,
12 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Bootlick.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bootlick. Accessed 30 Jan. 2026.
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