as in fussing
to use flattery or the doing of favors in order to win approval especially from a superior
a student who could not wait to fawn over the new teacher
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in obsequious
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
as in sycophancy
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fawning
Adjective
-
Softening the strongman The film starts with the loyal and somewhat obsequious journalist Pavel Zarubin interviewing Putin at the end of his long working day in the Kremlin, at 1:30 a.m.—
Peter Rutland,
The Conversation,
9 May 2025 -
At 11:30, as the simultaneously pompous and obsequious gate agent announces the passengers above gold status, the bit, already tilting toward insanity, leaves any attempt to portray a real airport behind and dives fully into Alice in Wonderland–level surrealism.—
John Roy,
Vulture,
8 May 2025
Noun
-
The OpenAI Model Spec — the document that describes what the company is aiming for with its products — warns against sycophancy, saying that: The assistant exists to help the user, not flatter them or agree with them all the time.—
Kelsey Piper,
Vox,
7 Dec. 2018
-
Meanwhile, competitors like Meta, Anthropic, OpenAI, and Microsoft continue to push more aggressively into the AI space, offering AI assistants (that admittedly still make things up and suffer from other issues, such as sycophancy).—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
9 June 2025
Adjective
-
His servile defense secretary has threatened to deploy the military in other cities.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
13 June 2025
-
Bahrain is ruled by Sunnis and has a mostly Shiite population permanently restless over its servile condition.—
Graeme Wood,
The Atlantic,
13 June 2025
Noun
-
After the mass, there will be food and performances from local choirs, and an outdoor eucharistic adoration.—
Post-Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
27 June 2025
-
The multimedia exposure drew the adoration of the era’s teenyboppers, who raced to spend their allowance money on T-shirts, lunch boxes and magazines featuring the face of Bubblegum Bobby, as he was known.—
Mikael Wood,
Los Angeles Times,
24 June 2025
Adjective
-
The film’s slavish dedication to its source material — the challenging of which would open its own can of worms — demands ignoring all potential complexity in favor of didactic conclusions.—
Siddhant Adlakha,
Variety,
19 June 2025
-
The Red Sox organization’s slavish devotion to analytics has a downside, Lynn said.—
Bill Speros,
Boston Herald,
15 June 2025
Adjective
-
Independent Trustee: The Court favorably noted that the trustees were not related or subordinate to the settlor, and were not beneficiaries of the trust’s income or principal.—
Martin Shenkman,
Forbes.com,
14 May 2025
-
The Soviets had to send troops into Budapest in 1956 and Prague in 1968 to keep the governments there subordinate to Moscow.—
Robert O. Keohane,
Foreign Affairs,
2 June 2025
Noun
-
Praise and worship will be at the shrine, along with food trucks and fireworks.—
Post-Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
20 June 2025
-
The festival will also host pre-show conversations about gospel’s influence on the Civil Rights Movement, and how the music served not only as a form of worship and spiritual connection, but also as a form of protest.—
Lauren Costantino,
Miami Herald,
19 June 2025
Adjective
-
It will not be subservient to the prime minister—or to any one person.—
HARTOSH SINGH BAL,
Foreign Affairs,
30 June 2025
-
Latinas of all backgrounds have endured being typecast as a slutty Maria or subservient Lupe.—
Gustavo Arellano,
Los Angeles Times,
24 June 2025
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.
Cite this Entry
“Fawning.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fawning. Accessed 7 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share