as in subordinate
disapproving
too eager to help or obey someone important
She's constantly followed by obsequious assistants who will do anything she tells them to.
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Recent Examples of obsequious
The Texas State Legislature was even more obsequious, approving a $15 million incentive package in 2013.
—
Guthrie Scrimgeour, Rolling Stone, 17 June 2025
Softening the strongman The film starts with the loyal and somewhat obsequious journalist Pavel Zarubin interviewing Putin at the end of his long working day in the Kremlin, at 1:30 a.m.
—Peter Rutland, The Conversation, 9 May 2025
At 11:30, as the simultaneously pompous and obsequious gate agent announces the passengers above gold status, the bit, already tilting toward insanity, leaves any attempt to portray a real airport behind and dives fully into Alice in Wonderland–level surrealism.
—John Roy, Vulture, 8 May 2025
The set’s background changed to a gaudy gold, Stewart played the role of an obsequious and cowed host who is terrified of saying the wrong thing on air (not entirely unlike how his former TDS colleague Stephen Colbert would play a right-wing character on the show).
—James Hibberd, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
See All Example Sentences for obsequious
Guthrie Scrimgeour, Rolling Stone, 17 June 2025
Softening the strongman The film starts with the loyal and somewhat obsequious journalist Pavel Zarubin interviewing Putin at the end of his long working day in the Kremlin, at 1:30 a.m.
—Peter Rutland, The Conversation, 9 May 2025
At 11:30, as the simultaneously pompous and obsequious gate agent announces the passengers above gold status, the bit, already tilting toward insanity, leaves any attempt to portray a real airport behind and dives fully into Alice in Wonderland–level surrealism.
—John Roy, Vulture, 8 May 2025
The set’s background changed to a gaudy gold, Stewart played the role of an obsequious and cowed host who is terrified of saying the wrong thing on air (not entirely unlike how his former TDS colleague Stephen Colbert would play a right-wing character on the show).
—James Hibberd, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
See All Example Sentences for obsequious
Recent Examples of Synonyms for obsequious
Adjective
-
Yasuda ordered his subordinate, Lieutenant Colonel Tatsusaburo Suzuki, to prepare a report on the feasibility of a uranium project in Japan.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
23 Oct. 2025
-
Indeed, allowing men but not women to have multiple spouses is clearly unequal and entwined with patriarchal ideology that positions women as subordinate or inferior to men.—
David W. Lawson,
The Conversation,
21 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
The generals reduced even their limited need for an obedient prime minister.—
Mohammed Hanif,
Time,
1 Dec. 2025
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Since Francoism promoted an image of women as obedient wives and self-sacrificing mothers devoted to the Catholic family model, Republican women were demonized as immoral, dangerous and unworthy of motherhood.—
Zaya Rustamova,
The Conversation,
19 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
The decisions and forces that affect society, that dictate the livelihoods and well-being of its citizens, are at the mercy of the market, and the now frighteningly transparent ways that the market serves and benefits its dutiful governmental benefactors.—
Brady Brickner-Wood,
New Yorker,
7 Jan. 2026
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The dutiful wife in pearls, hair set just so, makeup calibrated in a polished and understated way so as not to distract or stand out.—
Daisy Maldonado,
InStyle,
5 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Bahrain is ruled by Sunnis and has a mostly Shiite population permanently restless over its servile condition.—
Graeme Wood,
The Atlantic,
13 June 2025
-
His servile defense secretary has threatened to deploy the military in other cities.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
13 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Obsequious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/obsequious. Accessed 8 Jan. 2026.
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