butter

noun

ˈbə-tər How to pronounce butter (audio)
Definition of butternext
as in flattery
excessive praise a junior exec who was laying on the butter so thickly that her colleagues were ready to gag

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for butter
  1. flattery
  2. praise
  3. soft soap
  4. sweet talk
  5. adulation
  6. acclaim
Noun
  • Manipulation, escalation, flattery and vindictiveness are not the unavoidable price of sounding natural.
    — Puneet Gaur, Forbes.com, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Tom Cruise's recent effusive praise for Kate Middleton was not just Hollywood flattery, according to royal experts.
    — Ashley Hume , Stephanie Nolasco , Ashley Papa, FOXNews.com, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of flattery
Noun
  • His praise reached Secretly Group’s director of A&R, Eric Deines, who co-runs a smaller label of his own, Ulyssa, previously most notable for its compilations of songs with almost no listens on streaming services called <1000.
    — Jack Denton, Vulture, 22 Oct. 2026
  • To win effusive praise from special envoy Steve Witkoff and announce a resumption in negotiations, Russian President Vladimir Putin had to do very little.
    — Francesca Ebel, Washington Post, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of praise
Noun
  • People should wash any skin that comes into contact with the slurry with water and soft soap, before using a hand cream to avoid dryness and cracking.
    — Lauren Penington, The Denver Post, 2 Sep. 2024
  • Founder and creative director Joy Cho’s lifestyle brand offers whimsical products, spanning bandages to soft soap, as well as regular editorial content online.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 31 Mar. 2021
Definition of soft soap
Noun
  • Really, what writer, no matter how detached from their past, could resist that kind of sweet talk?
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Watch an encounter full of sweet talk, gaslighting and tension here.
    — Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 14 Feb. 2026
Definition of sweet talk
Noun
  • This adulation is all Fujino needs to take Kyomoto under her wing, and soon the two are inseparable, collaborating on strips where Fujino writes the stories and draws the figures while Kyomoto does the backgrounds.
    — Jay Weissberg, Variety, 7 Sep. 2026
  • Djokovic will have cheers about as loud as the ones that will be heard for the Americans Shelton and Fritz, the type of adulation that often fizzles before the ultimate prize.
    — Ava Wallace, New York Times, 23 Aug. 2026
Definition of adulation
Noun
  • In 2021, Leoni launched her own label, Quira, which quickly gained critical acclaim and became a 2023 LVMH Prize finalist.
    — Samantha Conti, Footwear News, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Rather than accept his acclaim, a boozy Lee gets on stage and immediately tears into the crowd for being sellouts.
    — Michael Schneider, Variety, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of acclaim
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Phrases Containing butter

Browse Nearby Words

butted (on or against)
butter
buttered up
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Butter.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/butter. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on butter

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about butter

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of puissant

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Can' vs. 'May'

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Words of the Week - Oct. 23

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All