1
variants
or grovelling
as in fawning
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Recent Examples of grovel
Joshua Keating, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018
It is predicated on fealty to the Big Lie, familial ties and a self-deprecating willingness to grovel before indecency.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 29 Dec. 2024
One moment involves Dickinson smashing up china and making Romy grovel on the floor to pick up the pieces.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 28 Dec. 2024
On the first platform, Seychelle sets the tone beautifully by forcing C.K. to grovel, agreeing to help her, then doing nothing anyway.
—Laura Bradley, Vulture, 18 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for grovel
Verb
But the argument that the US has often leveled — that China is a predatory actor on the world stage, using trade and investment to bend countries to its will — has become harder to make in a world where the president of the United States is bragging about the countries coming to grovel before him.
—Joshua Keating, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018
It is predicated on fealty to the Big Lie, familial ties and a self-deprecating willingness to grovel before indecency.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 29 Dec. 2024
One moment involves Dickinson smashing up china and making Romy grovel on the floor to pick up the pieces.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 28 Dec. 2024
On the first platform, Seychelle sets the tone beautifully by forcing C.K. to grovel, agreeing to help her, then doing nothing anyway.
—Laura Bradley, Vulture, 18 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for grovel
Recent Examples of Synonyms for grovel
Adjective
-
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
-
And the obsequious fealty shown to him by the Republican Party reinforces why a president running amok should never have this much power again.—
Reader Commentary,
Baltimore Sun,
18 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
So Alex dons a uniform, buses tables and engages in servile labor for the first time in her life.—
Kimberly Roots,
TVLine,
23 Mar. 2025
-
Trump’s servile devotion to Putin becomes the new norm overnight as Republicans cower in support of Trump’s new Putin policy.—
Bob Kustra,
Chicago Tribune,
7 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
At its most depraved level, this is get-rich-quick music; these artist-grifters are like sycophantic workers debasing themselves for the Big Boss Algorithm.—
Kieran Press-Reynolds,
Pitchfork,
21 May 2025
-
Clearly only on the qualification that Habba — a small-time lawyer who formerly served as general counsel for a parking garage company — was her sycophantic defense of the president during his criminal imbroglios.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
11 May 2025
Adjective
-
Melling conveys the paradoxical elevation of Colin’s low self-esteem through the subservient relationship with an appealing pluckiness.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
18 May 2025
-
Unlike the two main parties in the United States, Fidesz holds no primaries, and it has been systematically deprived of internal diversity because all of its senior ranks are subservient to Orban.—
BÁLINT MADLOVICS,
Foreign Affairs,
10 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
Conway, an Irishman like Fennell, rides a motorbike, inspires worshipful devotion in his crew, and can free-dive to extraordinary depths.—
Katy Waldman,
New Yorker,
19 May 2025
-
The secret in the biscuits is the pairing of cheddar with bacon, with the overall result being worshipful thanks from those who are lucky enough to partake.—
Mary Shannon Wells,
Southern Living,
20 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
Feeling the heat, George accepts an offer to take the lead in a largely fictional and completely hagiographic biopic of (current) Egyptian president Al-Sisi.—
Damon Wise,
Deadline,
19 May 2025
-
The hagiographic mode gave way to a more prosecutorial one.—
Benjamin Wallace-Wells,
New Yorker,
19 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Grovel.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/grovel. Accessed 6 Jun. 2025.
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