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Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sucking (up to)
Verb
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Ben spends the afternoon buttering up Ellie and praising her cake-icing skills, and even gives her the task of decorating the wedding cake.—
Rafaela Bassili,
Vulture,
31 Mar. 2026 -
The preview for The Muppet Show reveals special guest Sabrina Carpenter buttering up Miss Piggy backstage.—
Ashley Iasimone,
Billboard,
3 Sep. 2019
Verb
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But they're now considered the it guests at various events, with even fellow celebrities fawning over them.—
Dalila Muata,
NBC news,
5 May 2026
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The lawyer pulled up more than a dozen emails showing the once-budding actress fawning over the Oscar-winning producer and seeking his counsel like a father figure.—
Molly Crane-Newman,
New York Daily News,
1 May 2026
Verb
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Sacramento Bee political reporter Lia Russell, meanwhile, found coaxing their frog to jump nearly as difficult as coaxing a succinct answer out of California’s famously verbose governor.—
Andrew Graham
May 6,
Sacbee.com,
6 May 2026
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Many of us don't have the time—or the skill—to work at coaxing flowers out of the garden.—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
27 Apr. 2026
Verb
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What distinguishes Camper, at least musically, is his deference to classic R&B signifiers without kowtowing to pastiche.—
Steven J. Horowitz,
Variety,
27 Apr. 2026
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After all, the series largely avoids other topical issues of modern campus life, from freedom of speech restrictions to administrators kowtowing to autocracies.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
5 Mar. 2026
Verb
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And six years later, Donovan is still prodding and cajoling the forward to crash the boards and control his dribble and contribute physically to the game.—
Julia Poe,
Chicago Tribune,
26 Mar. 2026
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Europe has long underspent on defense, and where American cajoling for decades had not worked, a few face slaps succeeded.—
Eliot A. Cohen,
The Atlantic,
19 Jan. 2026
Verb
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In a bid to rekindle the couple’s honeymoon phase, Yasmin troubleshoots by wheedling a chief executive role for him at payment processing company Tender (run by Max Minghella‘s inscrutable puppet-master Whitney Halberstram), and throwing her husband a lavish costume party for his 40th birthday.—
Natalie Oganesyan,
Deadline,
18 Jan. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Sucking (up to).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sucking%20%28up%20to%29. Accessed 15 May. 2026.
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