groveling 1 of 2

adjective

variants or grovelling
as in fawning

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Dissimilar Words

groveling

2 of 2

verb

variants or grovelling
present participle of grovel
1
as in cringing
to draw back or crouch down in fearful submission the way in which the abused dog would grovel whenever its owner came near

Synonyms & Similar Words
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. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of groveling
Adjective
Roger resigns in disgrace, his numerous groveling apologies go unaccepted and he is sentenced to a lifetime guest spot on The View. — Joe Kinsey Outkick, FOXNews.com, 10 Sep. 2026
Verb
Higher still, Kerr led me up a steep groove that demanded such vicious thrashing and groveling that my whole body hurt. — Daniel Duane, New York Times, 14 Oct. 2026 Abject, groveling apologies to Moss and everybody on the longevity team! — Guy Martin, Forbes.com, 25 June 2026 Cue the fine and the groveling league apology. — Matt Reigle Outkick, FOXNews.com, 10 May 2026 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for groveling
  1. obsequious
  2. cringing
  3. crawling
  4. servile
  5. flinching
  6. creeping
  7. sycophantic
  8. sliding
Adjective
  • For instance, Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have become openly obsequious in sucking up to the DSA.
    — Peter Lucas, Boston Herald, 20 Aug. 2026
  • As a friend — her friends all know that Bobbi was singular — ever thoughtful, never obsequious, sometimes obstinate, always honest.
    — Lisa Lockwood, Footwear News, 6 July 2026
Definition of obsequious
Verb
  • Tonally, there’s something quite fascinating about a man looking back on his late teenage years and cringing while still seeing a part of himself.
    — Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 19 Sep. 2026
  • More comics from Life Kit Still cringing about that awkward moment?
    — Navied Mahdavian, NPR, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of cringing
Verb
  • Prior to then, traffic was seen crawling on the eastbound side of the bridge heading into the city.
    — Jeff Capellini, CBS News, 21 Oct. 2026
  • At the hospital, an insect fell from the girl’s shoe, and a staffer saw a cockroach crawling on her, the district attorney’s office said.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of crawling
Adjective
  • Both appeared on stage in character as VP Selina Meyer and her servile assistant, Gary Walsh.
    — Brianna Zigler, Entertainment Weekly, 15 Sep. 2026
  • Unfortunately, Trump takes servile flattery as his due.
    — Robert Kagan, The Atlantic, 19 June 2026
Definition of servile
Verb
  • In my experience, automation becomes commercially viable not when failures disappear, but when the system is built to handle them without flinching.
    — Shivansh Inamdar, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2026
  • Amy Adams’ Anna Bowden — who has a complicated history with Max as his former lawyer — peeks through the curtain to spy on him, flinching as Max insists on snapping his own broken finger into place.
    — Benjamin VanHoose, PEOPLE, 6 July 2026
Definition of flinching
Verb
  • Gusts of more than 60 mph are possible in parts of the Outer Banks with 40 to 50 mph gusts creeping toward the Interstate 95 corridor in North Carolina and southern Virginia.
    — Mary Gilbert, CNN Money, 17 Oct. 2026
  • Graduate unemployment is at 23 percent, white-collar job growth has slowed to a creeping one percent this year, and nearly a quarter of Indians between the ages of 15 and 29 are not in employment, education, or training programs.
    — Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Foreign Affairs, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of creeping
Adjective
  • His usual complaint is that the network isn’t sycophantic enough.
    — Brian Stelter, CNN Money, 9 Sep. 2026
  • Politicians in both parties are distancing themselves from an increasingly unpopular building boom faster than a sycophantic chatbot can flatter its user.
    — Editorial Board, Washington Post, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of sycophantic
Verb
  • The system can also move with the trailer’s sliding suspension.
    — Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 20 Oct. 2026
  • His return this preseason was intentionally low-key, sliding onto the roster of the last-place Kings (22-60 last season) without much fanfare.
    — Steve Henson, Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 2026
Definition of sliding

Browse Nearby Words

grovelers
groveling
grovels
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Cite this Entry

“Groveling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/groveling. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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