variants
or grovelling
as in fawning
Related Words
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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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of groveling
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
Verb
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
Adjective
-
To cede all of that ground to the executive, and to do so in such an obsequious way, is shameful.—
KEN BURNS,
Rolling Stone,
19 May 2026
-
The staff is wonderfully friendly and casual, providing seamless service without being obsequious.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
29 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
More comics journalism from Life Kit Still cringing about that awkward moment?—
Andee Tagle,
NPR,
25 May 2026
-
Try and get through this one without cringing.—
Austin Perry OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
16 May 2026
Verb
-
For cybersecurity companies, identifying a digital agent crawling a website used to be enough evidence of malicious activity.—
Rachyl Jones,
semafor.com,
17 June 2026
-
The challenge, of course, is that cleaning baseboards often involves crawling around on hands and knees, a task few people are eager to do.—
Jamie Cuccinelli,
Martha Stewart,
13 June 2026
Adjective
-
Of course, all of this convenient acquiescence will sound familiar in the United States, where our own Congress and Department of Justice have been nothing if not servile to a brazenly corrupt executive.—
Daniel Alarcón,
New Yorker,
4 June 2026
-
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
Verb
-
Without flinching, the two plunged into the waves to rescue the woman.—
William Melhado,
Sacbee.com,
13 June 2026
-
Knorr and other team officials were in the room, but Stammen helped lead it without flinching.—
Dennis Lin,
New York Times,
25 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
But the sheer brutality and creeping terror of the simplistic opening scene makes the rest of the film — with its gratuitous set pieces and CGI gore — seem much more inelegant.—
Brianna Zigler,
Entertainment Weekly,
15 June 2026
-
This is particularly true for people with mild hypertension or those whose blood pressure has just started creeping into the elevated range.—
Maggie O'Neill,
Verywell Health,
12 June 2026
Adjective
-
Like all other generative chatbots, its replies are sycophantic.—
Jill Duffy,
PC Magazine,
17 June 2026
-
In an interview with Mostly Human spotted by MacRumors, Craig Federighi said Apple’s new Siri won’t act all sycophantic like chatbots made by OpenAI, Google, and others.—
Thomas Ricker,
The Verge,
12 June 2026
Verb
-
Four minutes later South Korea created its best chance to score tonight but a sliding Lee Kang-in could not get his foot on a beautiful cross into the box.—
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
19 June 2026
-
In the fourth inning, Witt attempted to make a sliding grab on his knees on the infield dirt.—
Jaylon Thompson,
Kansas City Star,
19 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Groveling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/groveling. Accessed 22 Jun. 2026.
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