as in fawning
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Recent Examples of sycophancy
None of the companies directly commented on the Science study on Thursday but Anthropic and OpenAI pointed to their recent work to reduce sycophancy.
—
Matt O'Brien, Fortune, 29 Mar. 2026
OpenAI, in particular, has been criticized for AI sycophancy—especially the company’s GPT-4o model.
—Allison Parshall, Scientific American, 26 Mar. 2026
This is often described as sycophancy bias, meaning the AI behaves like a people pleaser.
—David Talby, Forbes.com, 20 Mar. 2026
And this sycophancy can cause serious ramifications.
—Arianna Huffington, Time, 14 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for sycophancy
Matt O'Brien, Fortune, 29 Mar. 2026
OpenAI, in particular, has been criticized for AI sycophancy—especially the company’s GPT-4o model.
—Allison Parshall, Scientific American, 26 Mar. 2026
This is often described as sycophancy bias, meaning the AI behaves like a people pleaser.
—David Talby, Forbes.com, 20 Mar. 2026
And this sycophancy can cause serious ramifications.
—Arianna Huffington, Time, 14 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for sycophancy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sycophancy
Noun
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According to Gaiani, drinking or using drugs before social situations is a major sign that your teen may be using alcohol to cope with fawning and to feel more comfortable or confident.—
Sarah Scott,
Parents,
25 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Yet she’s viewed, like everything else in the movie, with an adoration that is nearly transcendental.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
16 May 2026
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There’s probably a smart, chilling film to be made about the terrors of smothering and relentless adoration — one imagines what Rod Serling would have done with something like this — but this isn’t really that film.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
15 May 2026
Noun
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The Los Angeles Police Department’s Major Crimes Division, which investigates hate crimes and attacks on houses of worship, is reviewing the incident, according to a department spokesperson.—
James Queally,
Los Angeles Times,
8 May 2026
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The event is the second of three worship nights Bethel will do in 2026.—
Post-Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
8 May 2026
Noun
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The early colonists were very much anti-idol worshippers and even modern Catholics, as Vice President Vance surely knows, have long been criticized by their Protestant counterparts for a love of statuary, reliquaries and other iconography that some have argued fall into idolatry.—
Culture Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
1 Apr. 2026
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Leo used his homily at Mass in the Monaco stadium to do just that, urging the faithful to reject the type of idolatry that has enslaved people in cycles of war and injustice.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
29 Mar. 2026
Noun
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As was the case with the white-and-green dress for her Pakistan tour, Elizabeth, in her fashion choices, sought not only to avoid giving offense but to offer symbolic ingratiation, and among the most fascinating garments on display are those representing diplomatic dressing.—
Rebecca Mead,
New Yorker,
17 Apr. 2026
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Each chapter discusses a specific sales element, which includes such topics as goal setting, prospecting, ingratiation and listening tactics, empathy and much more.—
Larry D. Urish,
Oc Register,
30 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Sycophancy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sycophancy. Accessed 16 May. 2026.
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