as in flunkey
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
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of lickspittle
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
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
-
This is not the summer Trump and his sycophants had planned.—
Philip Elliott,
Time,
22 July 2025
-
He’s surrounded mostly by true believers and sycophants and able to engage somewhat freely in various forms of government dismantling and corruption.—
Charlie Warzel,
The Atlantic,
22 July 2025
Noun
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Images of toadies buttering up an emperor come to mind.—
Bill Goodykoontz,
AZCentral.com,
11 July 2025
-
Courtesy of Lucasfilm On an isolated farm at the outer reaches of a fascist empire, a mid-level government toady interrogates his victims.—
Jake Kleinman,
Wired News,
23 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
Players are asked to recruit their friends to fight the minions of the titular evil entity, the Deceiver.—
Ryan Coleman,
EW.com,
9 June 2025
-
This summer has already given ample evidence of how poorly Trump and his minions understand California.—
Thomas Elias,
Mercury News,
18 July 2025
Noun
-
But the joke’s on us — Republican senators, who are the only players with any real power to stop them, have simply decided not to, all so that President Camacho can play at government with his favorite suck-ups.—
S.E. Cupp,
New York Daily News,
4 Feb. 2025
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Sara Fischer, Dave Lawler Dec 23, 2024 - Politics & Policy Media's suck-up moment Fearing political retribution and strained by new business challenges, media companies that once covered President-elect Trump with skepticism — and in many cases, disdain — are reconsidering their approach.—
Sara Fischer,
Axios,
14 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Nina gets free just in time, only to find Saxton and Jim battling a ballet of bullets with Sal’s men — a firefight that gets Saxton’s blunt-force henchman Billy (Evan Jones) shot through the eye.—
Hunter Ingram,
Variety,
4 July 2025
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The wretched music alone is worth it, as is Victor Von Doom's henchman, who sounds like a little kid trying to impersonate Dracula.—
Jordan Hoffman,
EW.com,
25 July 2025
Noun
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He and some Prodigy soldiers are sent to the Maginot crash site to look for survivors, but two of them are quickly picked off by a blood-sucking parasite.—
Jordan Moreau,
Variety,
13 Aug. 2025
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Unbeknownst to them, that stomach issue was actually a parasite.—
Betsy Helfand,
Twin Cities,
9 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Tacoma is Seattle’s industrial flunky, the also-ran, the perennial embarrassment.—
Caroline Fraser
June 10,
Literary Hub,
10 June 2025
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Bathing in the blood of virgins is just one such regime, and god help the flunky who dares displease milady.—
Dennis Harvey,
Variety,
2 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Lickspittle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lickspittle. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025.
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