as in obsequious
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Recent Examples of sycophantic
Sean Hannity's sycophantic Fox News interview with Trump in 2020 was worse than not doing one at all.
—
Bill Goodykoontz, AZCentral.com, 3 Feb. 2026
Another similar assumption is that since LLMs are tuned by AI makers to be sycophantic, the AI might computationally be gauging that the best way to make the user feel good is by going along with a delusion-crafting chat.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 23 Jan. 2026
Chatbots can often be sycophantic or agree with users’ viewpoints to a fault.
—Jared Perlo, NBC news, 23 Jan. 2026
The magic of the series comes in the complete buy-in of the contestants as well as Davies and Horne (Horne's character is a meek, annoying and sycophantic version of himself).
—Kelly Lawler, USA Today, 22 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for sycophantic
Bill Goodykoontz, AZCentral.com, 3 Feb. 2026
Another similar assumption is that since LLMs are tuned by AI makers to be sycophantic, the AI might computationally be gauging that the best way to make the user feel good is by going along with a delusion-crafting chat.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 23 Jan. 2026
Chatbots can often be sycophantic or agree with users’ viewpoints to a fault.
—Jared Perlo, NBC news, 23 Jan. 2026
The magic of the series comes in the complete buy-in of the contestants as well as Davies and Horne (Horne's character is a meek, annoying and sycophantic version of himself).
—Kelly Lawler, USA Today, 22 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for sycophantic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sycophantic
Adjective
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Most are evasive, a few are obsequious, many are defiant, a few are enraged, and all appear to feel their lives slipping away under the seemingly boundless force of judicial inquisition.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
19 Feb. 2026
-
Plentiful staff are ever-present and always obliging, without being obsequious.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
9 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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After all, the deal — for a long-forsaken project, an action-comedy franchise starring two aging stars — underscores the servile fealty of new Paramount owners Larry and David Ellison amid their recent maneuvering to take control of TikTok and Warner Bros. Discovery (the latter seemingly futile).—
Gary Baum,
HollywoodReporter,
6 Dec. 2025
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Earlier this year, my colleague and bud Kelefa Sanneh suggested that music critics, as a lot, have gone soft—becoming submissive, overly agreeable, and, in some cases, nearly servile.—
Amanda Petrusich,
New Yorker,
1 Dec. 2025
Adjective
-
What historians and theologians know about Francis comes primarily from his own writings and hagiographic texts.—
Vanessa Corcoran,
The Conversation,
2 Feb. 2026
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Of course, a person making a hagiographic documentary about the production of the show for Netflix probably isn’t the world’s most neutral source.—
Sharon Adarlo,
Futurism,
14 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Essentially worshipful in its view of Lee, the movie never acknowledges that one person drawing so much unbridled admiration is more than a little creepy.—
Stephanie Zacharek,
Time,
25 Dec. 2025
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But while his adoration does have an erotic edge to it (see: The Shape of Water), on the whole, his affection for the misshapen and the outcast among us is more worshipful than overtly lusty.—
Katie Rife,
Vulture,
9 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Sycophantic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sycophantic. Accessed 2 Mar. 2026.
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