variants
or grovelling
as in fawning
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Dissimilar Words
variants
or grovelling
1
2
as in crawling
to move slowly with the body close to the ground
because of their anatomy, bats can only grovel while moving along the ground
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of groveling
Edward Lotterman, Twin Cities, 18 Jan. 2026
That’s the saddest cash-grab gimmick ever, groveling for Dubai dollars.
—Sports Columnist, San Francisco Chronicle, 11 Jan. 2026
Rather than wait it out until January 2029, when magical thinking assumes the current transatlantic nightmare will come to an end, the EU needs to stop groveling and build greater sovereignty.
—Matthias Matthijs, Foreign Affairs, 12 Dec. 2025
Continue reading … POINTING FINGERS – Former vice president accuses newspaper owners of 'groveling' to Trump in new book.
—FOXNews.com, 24 Sep. 2025
Verb
Political courage is needed, especially from the cowardly, groveling Congress.
—Edward Lotterman, Twin Cities, 18 Jan. 2026
That’s the saddest cash-grab gimmick ever, groveling for Dubai dollars.
—Sports Columnist, San Francisco Chronicle, 11 Jan. 2026
Rather than wait it out until January 2029, when magical thinking assumes the current transatlantic nightmare will come to an end, the EU needs to stop groveling and build greater sovereignty.
—Matthias Matthijs, Foreign Affairs, 12 Dec. 2025
Continue reading … POINTING FINGERS – Former vice president accuses newspaper owners of 'groveling' to Trump in new book.
—FOXNews.com, 24 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for groveling
Verb
-
Dermatologists are literally cringing about it.—
Lauren Jarvis-Gibson,
Miami Herald,
7 Apr. 2026
-
The movie’s real sympathetic figure is Hall, played by Dacre Montgomery, who spends most of the movie cringing and flinching, while trying not to move.—
Mick LaSalle,
San Francisco Chronicle,
5 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Ahmed Moustafa, who operates a halal cart near Yankee Stadium, is still crawling out from the pandemic.—
Yuna Kim,
New York Daily News,
6 May 2026
-
Detroit then went to Orlando and extended its hopes yet again — crawling out of a 24-point hole through a historic clampdown.—
Steven Louis Goldstein,
New York Times,
5 May 2026
Adjective
-
The staff is wonderfully friendly and casual, providing seamless service without being obsequious.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
29 Apr. 2026
-
The millennial-Gen Z generational divide, both sides fighting over scraps of a shrinking pie while still in smiling, obsequious service to aging boomers, is an enticing hook made more so by meta casting.—
Alison Herman,
Variety,
16 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Knorr and other team officials were in the room, but Stammen helped lead it without flinching.—
Dennis Lin,
New York Times,
25 Mar. 2026
-
The Alpha Wave acquisition suggests the Gulf’s biggest dealmakers aren’t flinching at opportunities in the US or being slowed by the war in Iran.—
Kelsey Warner,
semafor.com,
10 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
For another easy-to-care-for choice that relishes sunlight, look to creeping juniper and its beautifully hazy blue-green leaves.—
Melissa Epifano,
The Spruce,
28 Apr. 2026
-
That dingy look creeping across the screens and settling on every surface?—
Lauren Jarvis-Gibson,
Miami Herald,
27 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
That this man’s-man tough guy becomes utterly servile in the presence of a bunch of slack-casual bazillionaires is the cherry on top of the fascist sundae.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
13 Mar. 2026
-
Julia was the first weekly TV series that starred a Black woman in a role that wasn't servile.—
Starr Rocque,
PEOPLE,
3 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Three minutes and 22 seconds into the first period, Frost defender Sidney Morin got an open pass from captain Kendall Coyne Schofield just to the right of Montreal’s goal, sliding it just behind Ann-Renée Desbiens.—
Theodore Tollefson,
Twin Cities,
8 May 2026
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After Kevin McGonigle led off with a lineout – another smooth-as-silk sliding catch by Abreu – the righty issued back-to-back walks to Matt Vierling and Keith.—
Gabrielle Starr,
Boston Herald,
7 May 2026
Adjective
-
While chatbots often take on an affirming tone with users, several of the lawsuits point to a controversial model called GPT‑4o that was known for being especially sycophantic.—
Lauren Fichten,
CBS News,
30 Apr. 2026
-
If the families win their lawsuits, OpenAI could be forced to change those rules to block more dangerous sessions and possibly to change ChatGPT’s overall design to be less sycophantic.—
Robert Pearlman,
ArsTechnica,
29 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Groveling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/groveling. Accessed 10 May. 2026.
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