as in sycophant
a person who flatters another in order to get ahead
a partisan news program whose host is more of a lickspittle for the White House than a serious journalist
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Recent Examples of lickspittle
Rarely has a president been surrounded by such an array of toadies and lickspittles, operating beyond their competence in an atmosphere of organizational chaos.
—
Eliot A. Cohen,
The Atlantic,
1 Apr. 2026
Firmly in control of the nation’s massive federal apparatus, MAGA and its Republican lickspittles in Congress have thrived on chaos.
—
Steven Greenhut,
Oc Register,
23 Jan. 2026
Such as holding court, choosing your sobriquet, and naming imbecilic lickspittles to our Kingsguard.
—
Kimberly Roots,
TVLine,
7 July 2024
What happened to the idea that art and culture should be a contemptuous refuge from the mainstream, as opposed to this lickspittle, running dog accommodation to the mainstream?
—
Billboard Staff,
Billboard,
3 June 2022
And Washington is revealed once again as our modern Versailles, a place of courtiers and lickspittles who’d use the Ministry of Justice to serve their ambitions.
—
John Kass,
chicagotribune.com,
15 June 2018
Ricardians denounce Shakespeare as a lickspittle hack who favored Henry Tudor —the winner at Bosworth and Elizabeth I’s grandfather—over Richard’s branch of the House of York.
—
Andrew Roberts,
WSJ,
30 Apr. 2018
Eliot A. Cohen,
The Atlantic,
1 Apr. 2026
Firmly in control of the nation’s massive federal apparatus, MAGA and its Republican lickspittles in Congress have thrived on chaos.
—
Steven Greenhut,
Oc Register,
23 Jan. 2026
Such as holding court, choosing your sobriquet, and naming imbecilic lickspittles to our Kingsguard.
—
Kimberly Roots,
TVLine,
7 July 2024
What happened to the idea that art and culture should be a contemptuous refuge from the mainstream, as opposed to this lickspittle, running dog accommodation to the mainstream?
—
Billboard Staff,
Billboard,
3 June 2022
And Washington is revealed once again as our modern Versailles, a place of courtiers and lickspittles who’d use the Ministry of Justice to serve their ambitions.
—
John Kass,
chicagotribune.com,
15 June 2018
Ricardians denounce Shakespeare as a lickspittle hack who favored Henry Tudor —the winner at Bosworth and Elizabeth I’s grandfather—over Richard’s branch of the House of York.
—
Andrew Roberts,
WSJ,
30 Apr. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lickspittle
Noun
-
Ditto his despicable aides and Cabinet members, his unprincipled sycophants and suck-ups.
-
Trump’s worried sycophants probably know that the details of an eventual agreement likely do not matter very much at this point.
Noun
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The result of this dynamic tension of bootlickers, according to Bernhard’s narrator, is the perpetual elevation and official anointment of mediocrity.
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If all goes to hell and America devolves into a rank dictatorship, beware the bootlicker.
Noun
-
Under Homelander’s rule, spineless toadies like The Deep would be the only remaining followers.
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His embrace of Trump‘s endorsement and refusal to admit that Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 presidential election expose him as a toady.
Noun
-
The world premiere on Sunday – in the presence of Illumination boss Chris Meledandri and director Pierre Coffin, who is also the origin of the minions’ unintelligible chatter – kicks off one of the biggest Annecy Film Festival’s yet.
-
The two key attractions include the Bello Bay Cruise river rapids ride where yellow minions face off against purple minions and the Bello Bay Golf Cart Derby teacups ride.
Noun
-
Ditto his despicable aides and Cabinet members, his unprincipled sycophants and suck-ups.
-
Or a suck-up move to the Trump administration and its ridiculous claims against the media?
Noun
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Now, Lilith must team up with Cinderella to fight biker trolls, outrun evil henchmen, and escape the Screaming Woods.
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Launched in early 1982, the original MOTU line-up saw He-Man and Skeletor joined by heroes Teela (at this point, the only female character), Man-at-Arms and Stratos; the morally ambiguous Zodac; and a couple of Skeletor's henchmen, Beast Man and Mer-Man.
Noun
-
Yasmin, Tender’s briefly installed head of communications, is the first of Whitney’s flunkies to defect.
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For instance, Bolsonaro’s flunkies penetrated the government agency that handled film distribution.
Noun
-
Most standard portable filters only catch parasites, so check that any filter is certified to NSF Standard 53 or 58 with a small enough pore size.
-
Police said nearly all the dogs that were surrendered tested positive for whipworm, an intestinal parasite known to cause anemia that, if left untreated, can eventually result in the death of an animal.
Cite this Entry
“Lickspittle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lickspittle. Accessed 25 Jun. 2026.
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