as in ingratiation
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Recent Examples of smarm
At its worst, the earnestness curdles into self-congratulatory smarm.
—
Inkoo Kang, The New Yorker, 29 June 2024
The movie’s entrancing and melancholy beauty feels old-fashioned in a contemporary animation world largely defined by clutter and smarm.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 31 May 2024
Oliver brings in Matthew Broderick, playing himself with exaggerated smarm, who effortlessly breezes through the patter song.
—Tim Greiving, Los Angeles Times, 28 May 2024
That barreling is assisted mightily by the two male characters in the narrative, who take turns maximizing smarm and misogyny.
—David John Chávez, The Mercury News, 13 Mar. 2024
See All Example Sentences for smarm
Inkoo Kang, The New Yorker, 29 June 2024
The movie’s entrancing and melancholy beauty feels old-fashioned in a contemporary animation world largely defined by clutter and smarm.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 31 May 2024
Oliver brings in Matthew Broderick, playing himself with exaggerated smarm, who effortlessly breezes through the patter song.
—Tim Greiving, Los Angeles Times, 28 May 2024
That barreling is assisted mightily by the two male characters in the narrative, who take turns maximizing smarm and misogyny.
—David John Chávez, The Mercury News, 13 Mar. 2024
See All Example Sentences for smarm
Recent Examples of Synonyms for smarm
Noun
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For soft-skill matters such as advice, sycophancy in AI chatbots can be especially dangerous, Cheng said, because there's no certainty about whether its guidance is sensible.—
Emma Bowman,
NPR,
5 Aug. 2025
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Marco Rubio’s and Pete Hegseth’s brainless sycophancy.—
Robert B. Reich,
Hartford Courant,
15 July 2025
Noun
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Di Gregorio is joined in the cast by Greta Scarano (Suburra), who also won praise for her feature directorial debut La Vita Da Grandi, as the daughter, and Game of Thrones star Tom Wlaschiha, as her cheating husband who walks from Germany to Rome in search of forgiveness.—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
7 Aug. 2025
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Ahead is the chance to earn more than praise as part of the front five.—
Oliver Thomas,
Forbes.com,
5 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Smarm.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/smarm. Accessed 20 Aug. 2025.
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