1
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
variants
or grovelling
as in fawning
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
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.
Recent Examples of groveling
Beren Cross, New York Times, 28 July 2025
In a statement posted on social media, Iran's mission to the United Nations said:
No Iranian official has ever asked to grovel at the gates of the White House.
—Francesca Chambers, USA Today, 19 June 2025
Absolutely, but Colin is eager to please and genuinely loves to grovel.
—Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 24 May 2025
As the Cabinet went around the room, even some conservatives denounced the display of groveling before Trump.
—Mabinty Quarshie, The Washington Examiner, 30 Apr. 2025
Related Articles Letters: Apple’s biggest problem is groveling for Trump
Trump’s commerce secretary says new electronics tariff exemptions are temporary, chip tariffs coming
These Silicon Valley tech leaders donated to Donald Trump.
—Bloomberg, Mercury News, 14 Apr. 2025
What begins as a modest levy swells into a sprawling system, where bureaucrats decide who pays, who benefits, and who grovels for exemptions.
—Jon Fleischman, Oc Register, 12 Apr. 2025
Of course, that doesn’t apply in Trump’s government where merit is completely overridden by groveling and total worship of the president.
—Letters To The Editor, Orlando Sentinel, 29 Jan. 2025
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
Verb
With a grovelling apology, United had to ask their fans to stay away from Germany while the team trained.
—Beren Cross, New York Times, 28 July 2025
In a statement posted on social media, Iran's mission to the United Nations said:
No Iranian official has ever asked to grovel at the gates of the White House.
—Francesca Chambers, USA Today, 19 June 2025
Absolutely, but Colin is eager to please and genuinely loves to grovel.
—Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 24 May 2025
As the Cabinet went around the room, even some conservatives denounced the display of groveling before Trump.
—Mabinty Quarshie, The Washington Examiner, 30 Apr. 2025
Related Articles Letters: Apple’s biggest problem is groveling for Trump
Trump’s commerce secretary says new electronics tariff exemptions are temporary, chip tariffs coming
These Silicon Valley tech leaders donated to Donald Trump.
—Bloomberg, Mercury News, 14 Apr. 2025
What begins as a modest levy swells into a sprawling system, where bureaucrats decide who pays, who benefits, and who grovels for exemptions.
—Jon Fleischman, Oc Register, 12 Apr. 2025
Of course, that doesn’t apply in Trump’s government where merit is completely overridden by groveling and total worship of the president.
—Letters To The Editor, Orlando Sentinel, 29 Jan. 2025
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for groveling
Adjective
-
The Texas State Legislature was even more obsequious, approving a $15 million incentive package in 2013.—
Guthrie Scrimgeour,
Rolling Stone,
17 June 2025
-
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
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
Adjective
-
Sng’s feature is, in fact, distinct from much of the non-fiction work being made today: there are no sycophantic talking heads or salacious true crime twists.—
Zac Ntim,
Deadline,
17 Aug. 2025
-
Anthropic conducted a study in 2023 that revealed sycophantic tendencies in versions of AI assistants, including its own chatbot Claude.—
Angela Yang,
NBC news,
13 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
Japanese gardens aren’t subservient to symmetry in the way that many European gardens are.—
Lauren Groff,
The Atlantic,
20 Aug. 2025
-
Instead, Trump made sure that incentives for these renewable technologies were wound down in the ultra-MAGA budget bill that the subservient Congress recently sent to him and is hell-bent on clearing the path for oil and gas and coal to dominate.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
31 July 2025
Adjective
-
On Wednesday morning, the secretary-general followed up with a photo op alongside Trump; his language during the press conference was, if anything, even more worshipful.—
Susan B. Glasser,
New Yorker,
26 June 2025
-
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
Adjective
-
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
-
Photo Gallery 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
Cite this Entry
“Groveling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/groveling. Accessed 1 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share