variants
also flunkey
or flunkie
1
as in servant
a person hired to perform household or personal services
since I'm just the flunky who files his papers, I've no idea where he is
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in sycophant
a person who flatters another in order to get ahead
a rock star who saw through the phonies and the flunkies
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of flunky
The best sequences allow for some building of suspense, like the fate of Gautama’s flunky while closing the family shop at night, or an episode when Tika is chased by her possessed mother in their house.
—
Dennis Harvey, Variety, 6 Aug. 2025
Tacoma is Seattle’s industrial flunky, the also-ran, the perennial embarrassment.
—Caroline Fraser
june 10, Literary Hub, 10 June 2025
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
By quieting the clamor among the offended Giants, Mays was not acting as a flunky for his white manager.
—Aram Goudsouzian / Made By History, TIME, 25 June 2024
See All Example Sentences for flunky
Dennis Harvey, Variety, 6 Aug. 2025
Tacoma is Seattle’s industrial flunky, the also-ran, the perennial embarrassment.
—Caroline Fraser
june 10, Literary Hub, 10 June 2025
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
By quieting the clamor among the offended Giants, Mays was not acting as a flunky for his white manager.
—Aram Goudsouzian / Made By History, TIME, 25 June 2024
See All Example Sentences for flunky
Recent Examples of Synonyms for flunky
Noun
-
The senator from Texas, one of his party’s most effective fundraisers and influential legislators, devoted his losing campaign and most of the past decade in politics to a wan effort to portray himself as the president’s faithful servant.—
Jonathan Chait,
The Atlantic,
27 May 2026
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This scholarship also sees the relation between media and government as variable rather than constant, with news media sometimes acting like faithful servants, sometimes more like honest brokers, and sometimes—more rarely—like advocates of the underdog, depending on political circumstances.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
26 May 2026
Noun
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Trump’s worried sycophants probably know that the details of an eventual agreement likely do not matter very much at this point.—
Tom Nichols,
The Atlantic,
25 May 2026
-
Instead of holding events around Los Angeles to convince skeptics that his mayoral campaign is for everyone, the former reality television bad boy has bunkered himself inside an echo chamber of sycophants, friendly podcasters and milquetoast media outlets.—
Gustavo Arellano,
Los Angeles Times,
19 May 2026
Noun
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After Wally springs her from the Shaw's clutches, the group manages to lure the couple and some of their lackeys into the makeshift particle accelerator trap that former engineer Sam built out of old cathode-ray tube TVs.—
Megan McCluskey,
Time,
21 May 2026
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That means, of course, she’s now been phased out of her role as a factory lackey in dystopian near-future Brazil due to her age.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
3 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Launched in early 1982, the original MOTU line-up saw He-Man and Skeletor joined by heroes Teela (at this point, the only female character), Man-at-Arms and Stratos; the morally ambiguous Zodac; and a couple of Skeletor's henchmen, Beast Man and Mer-Man.—
Richard Edwards,
Space.com,
1 June 2026
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The remoteness of their surroundings is no accident; one of these characters is fleeing an inconvenient past, which returns with a vengeance in the form of a beefy sadist (Benoît Magimel) and his two hostage-taking henchmen.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
27 May 2026
Noun
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Rarely has a president been surrounded by such an array of toadies and lickspittles, operating beyond their competence in an atmosphere of organizational chaos.—
Eliot A. Cohen,
The Atlantic,
1 Apr. 2026
-
Firmly in control of the nation’s massive federal apparatus, MAGA and its Republican lickspittles in Congress have thrived on chaos.—
Steven Greenhut,
Oc Register,
23 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Or a suck-up move to the Trump administration and its ridiculous claims against the media?—
Bill Goodykoontz,
AZCentral.com,
4 Dec. 2025
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Like many digital beings, Reps, as Replika’s avatars are known, are engineered to be agreeable, nonjudgmental, and zealously supportive—i.e., suck-ups.—
Patricia Marx,
New Yorker,
8 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Aniello, who directed both bookend episodes, replicates her own long, dynamic shot from the series premiere, which tracks Deborah from the closing joke of her zillionth Vegas set, through a backstage warren of minions and admirers, to her dressing room.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
29 May 2026
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Your president and his minions spread war, chaos, lies and economic instability.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
27 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The result of this dynamic tension of bootlickers, according to Bernhard’s narrator, is the perpetual elevation and official anointment of mediocrity.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
19 Feb. 2026
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If all goes to hell and America devolves into a rank dictatorship, beware the bootlicker.—
Gustavo Arellano,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Flunky.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/flunky. Accessed 5 Jun. 2026.
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