as in unctuously
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Recent Examples of Synonyms for sycophantically
Adverb
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In my experience, moisturizers for dry skin tend to be unctuously thick, which can trigger breakouts, while those made for oily skin are often too light to make a difference.—
Jacqueline Kilikita,
Refinery29,
22 Jan. 2026
Adverb
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Modestly cut and flatteringly designed, this short set is elegant enough to wear from day to night.—
Alexandra Emanuelli,
Southern Living,
4 Mar. 2026
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The high elastic waistband flatteringly cinches without pinching, according to one shopper, and the baggy wide-leg design gives your legs room to move through long airport lines and eight-hour workdays.—
Chaise Sanders,
Travel + Leisure,
22 Oct. 2025
Adverb
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Filled with dark humor, Zhang’s satire slyly weaves in observations about race, privilege, and social media.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
19 May 2026
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In full costume, the guys slyly walk away with money bags without being made.—
Taylor Ardrey,
USA Today,
15 May 2026
Adverb
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But cunningly, in the years since 1945—and responsibly and rightly, too—the United States put together a system where most of the other strong countries were also friends.—
David Frum,
The Atlantic,
8 Apr. 2026
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Instead of kings and queens cunningly maneuvering their armies against their enemies, there’s only an ox of a man and a bald little boy, neither of whom exhibits a clearly superior intellect.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
13 Jan. 2026
Adverb
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At the combine, as executives and scouts furrowed their brows and furtively took notes, Mann and I stood on the concourse, watching team personnel watch prospects work out.—
Brady Brickner-Wood,
New Yorker,
4 June 2026
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Unlike Monday's burial for Princess Irene, which follows a Saturday prayer service in Madrid and a funeral Monday at Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens, the Tatoi interment for Sofia's mother, Queen Federica of Greece, was not official, and took place almost furtively.—
Diego Parrado,
Vanity Fair,
18 Jan. 2026
Adverb
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Meanwhile, stocks sharply rose.—
Sarah Dean,
NBC news,
12 June 2026
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The data underscores the stark shift in the nation's inflation outlook this year, with gasoline prices remaining sharply elevated.—
Aimee Picchi,
CBS News,
11 June 2026
Adverb
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The experiment is that AI is being made available nationally and globally, which is either overtly or insidiously acting to provide mental health guidance of one kind or another.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
24 May 2026
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Often nearly invisible to the naked eye, microplastics have insidiously found their way into people’s lungs, arterial plaques and brains through food, air and water, researchers have found.—
Kate Nishimura,
Footwear News,
7 Apr. 2026
Adverb
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That virtue is undermined here by leads with minimal chemistry, one of them inexpressive and the other archly theatrical, by design if not to rewarding effect.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
21 May 2026
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The show, which followed a crooked New Mexican lawyer, played by Bob Odenkirk, was an archly funny drama, shot partly in gritty black-and-white.—
Rachel Syme,
New Yorker,
29 Sep. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Sycophantically.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sycophantically. Accessed 13 Jun. 2026.
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