as in fawning
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Recent Examples of Synonyms for genuflecting
Adjective
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This approach is best exemplified by NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, who in June sent Trump an obsequious message praising his Middle Eastern diplomacy and lauding him for getting European countries to spend more on defense.—
Philip H. Gordon,
Foreign Affairs,
16 Dec. 2025 -
The darkest thread, meanwhile, is the obsequious reverence for Epstein.—
Jessica Winter,
New Yorker,
17 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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After all, the deal — for a long-forsaken project, an action-comedy franchise starring two aging stars — underscores the servile fealty of new Paramount owners Larry and David Ellison amid their recent maneuvering to take control of TikTok and Warner Bros. Discovery (the latter seemingly futile).—
Gary Baum,
HollywoodReporter,
6 Dec. 2025
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Earlier this year, my colleague and bud Kelefa Sanneh suggested that music critics, as a lot, have gone soft—becoming submissive, overly agreeable, and, in some cases, nearly servile.—
Amanda Petrusich,
New Yorker,
1 Dec. 2025
Adjective
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Researchers and even users can alter these personas through technical tweaks, as many ChatGPT users found out earlier this year when the OpenAI service fluctuated between personalities that were either gushing and sycophantic or emotionally distant.—
Jared Perlo,
NBC news,
3 Jan. 2026
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In our first exchanges, my noncommittal 10-word texts prompted hundreds of words in response, much of them sycophantic.—
Amogh Dimri,
The Atlantic,
2 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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But while his adoration does have an erotic edge to it (see: The Shape of Water), on the whole, his affection for the misshapen and the outcast among us is more worshipful than overtly lusty.—
Katie Rife,
Vulture,
9 Nov. 2025
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West was at the height of his cultural influence and had handpicked Chance, a fellow Chicago native, as his protégé—the successor to the soul-drenched, worshipful hip-hop that West had popularized in the mid-two-thousands.—
Brady Brickner-Wood,
New Yorker,
20 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Inside, the mood was hushed, reverent.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
16 Dec. 2025
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It’s been heartening to see these many reverent tributes to not only Reiner’s good deeds in the arena of social justice, but also to his film work, which has maybe not always been properly appreciated for its breadth and vitality.—
Richard Lawson,
HollywoodReporter,
15 Dec. 2025
Adjective
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The great and the good of the Brazilian game, meanwhile, still talk about him in reverential tones.—
Jack Lang,
New York Times,
14 Dec. 2025
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Through cagey use of the voiceover, Casino becomes a wily and cynical yet decidedly reverential glimpse at the way things really get done in a wide- open urban setting.—
Duane Byrge,
HollywoodReporter,
22 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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In a way, then, a documentary like Angus Wall’s Being Eddie, a generally amiable and adulatory 90 minutes streaming on Netflix, fails; with its softly hagiographic approach, the director never pushes Eddie Murphy to any place that feels untapped or confrontational, and therefore newsworthy.—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
30 Dec. 2025
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Years of hagiographic media coverage and his immense social-media reach birthed legions of fanboys and nurtured a cult of personality.—
Franklin Foer,
The Atlantic,
28 July 2025
Adjective
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Lynch is in a subservient power-sharing arrangement with coach Kyle Shanahan.—
Michael Cunningham,
AJC.com,
12 Jan. 2026
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Created by Alex Horne, who plays the subservient assistant in the episodes, the show has a unique talent for mining comedy from complete mundanity and inanity, and somehow gets more creative with each passing season.—
Kelly Lawler,
USA Today,
4 Dec. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Genuflecting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/genuflecting. Accessed 14 Jan. 2026.
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