as in servility
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Recent Examples of obsequiousness
All of this amounts to a rounding error for the tech giants—averaged out, YouTube made more than $107 million from ad revenue every single day last quarter—but these are still acts of profound obsequiousness and corporate cowardice.
—
Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 1 Oct. 2025
Trump doesn’t have much to show for his obsequiousness.
—Steven Greenhut, Oc Register, 12 Sep. 2025
For another recent client, the board’s questions about his employer’s stock vesting schedule had Bari, the client, his agent, and the listing agent go through four rounds of revisions to ensure their response nailed a just-right level of obsequiousness.
—Matthew Sedacca, Curbed, 11 Aug. 2025
Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 1 Oct. 2025
Trump doesn’t have much to show for his obsequiousness.
—Steven Greenhut, Oc Register, 12 Sep. 2025
For another recent client, the board’s questions about his employer’s stock vesting schedule had Bari, the client, his agent, and the listing agent go through four rounds of revisions to ensure their response nailed a just-right level of obsequiousness.
—Matthew Sedacca, Curbed, 11 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for obsequiousness
Noun
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Japan may need to choose between accepting subservience to China and building up the military capacity necessary for independent deterrence.—
Robert Kagan,
The Atlantic,
18 Jan. 2026
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Republican subservience is slowly beginning to wane.—
Rafael Perez,
Oc Register,
30 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Yet electing to be private doesn’t amount to complaisance or complicity.—
Lesley M.M. Blume,
Town & Country,
6 Dec. 2022
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Sammy’s awareness of his mother’s infidelity, his father’s complaisance, and how both were relieved by his creative Boy Scout merit-badge projects and fantasies requires a separate article.—
Armond White,
National Review,
16 Nov. 2022
Noun
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One truth of which Vigil seems deliberately oblivious is that many of those who inspire confidence and deference, as Boone did, have something going for them.—
Julius Taranto,
The Atlantic,
27 Jan. 2026
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The federal courts usually grant deference to the president when the government issues statements in the context of litigation.—
Andrea Katz,
The Conversation,
26 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Passage of this resolution was tantamount to acquiescence by Congress, granting the president the authority to respond militarily by sending thousands of troops to fight in Vietnam.—
Richard Cherwitz,
Sun Sentinel,
6 Jan. 2026
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Despite that goal, the Utah Legislature’s Republican supermajority, with Cox’s acquiescence, has taken a hard turn against solar power — which has been coming online faster than any other source in Utah and accounts for two-thirds of the new projects waiting to connect to the state’s power grid.—
Anjeanette Damon,
ProPublica,
12 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Obsequiousness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/obsequiousness. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.
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