kowtowing 1 of 2

kowtowing

2 of 2

verb

present participle of kowtow

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for kowtowing
Adjective
  • The 6th Ranger Training Battalion belongs to the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade which is a subordinate brigade of the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning.
    Mark Price, Miami Herald, 21 May 2025
  • The company kept the HBO brand, of course, as subordinate under the Max umbrella.
    Todd Spangler, Variety, 15 May 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
  • 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
  • Republicans insist Zelenskyy hasn’t been sufficiently obsequious to the United States, which is a point Vance hammered.
    The Editorial Board, Orange County Register, 5 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Despite working in a position of power within the ecosystem of the hotel, they are still essentially subservient to all of their guests, if not significantly less well off.
    Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 3 Apr. 2025
  • We are not subservient to a king or anyone else out of Washington.
    Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 20 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Nonetheless, the film’s tension is almost immediately diffused by a slavish devotion to the facts.
    Gregory Nussen, Deadline, 26 Feb. 2025
  • Yet in Kim’s slavish dedication to the Jeju haenyeo’s testimony, many questions that arise in this setting are left unexplored.
    Geoffrey Bunting, Rolling Stone, 11 Oct. 2024
Adjective
  • According to the new framing, Russia’s real fight is against the mighty United States, which wants to destroy it, while Ukraine—just like the European Union and NATO—is merely an obedient U.S. satellite.
    Andrei Kolesnikov, Foreign Affairs, 25 May 2023
  • The twist offered in this tale is that this dutiful and obedient AI proceeds to gobble up all the available resources on earth to maximally achieve this goal.
    Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 4 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • Your value lies in being pretty, silent, submissive and unfailingly supportive of men.
    Marie Bostwick, People.com, 14 Apr. 2025
  • Trump was demanding deference from Zelenskyy to show his inferior and submissive position as a recipient of U.S. aid and military support.
    Shannon Bow O'Brien, The Conversation, 25 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Women provided cheap, docile, and uncomplaining behind-the-scenes labor in an expensive industry whose glamour was all in the hardware.
    Constance Grady, Vox, 14 Apr. 2025
  • Smith derailed Vitor Petrino in May 2024 when the veteran made the Brazilian KO artist look docile, defeating him easily in the first round via submission.
    Brian Mazique, Forbes, 19 Feb. 2025
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.

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Kowtowing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/kowtowing. Accessed 25 May. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!