as in obsequious
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Dissimilar Words
as in fawning
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
as in fussing
to use flattery or the doing of favors in order to win approval especially from a superior
a satirical novel about an amoral go-getter who toadies his way to the top of the corporate ladder
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for toadying
Adjective
-
Trump’s Cabinet meetings might as well be filmed in North Korea what with the obsequious pandering before one of them dares speak.—
Joe Soucheray,
Twin Cities,
28 Mar. 2026 -
Specific versions of ChatGPT have been singled out as being especially obsequious, and extreme cases have led to breaks with reality and explosions of violence.—
Frank Landymore,
Futurism,
11 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
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
Verb
-
Ever the dedicated mother, Stacy runs to her adult daughter’s aid, fussing at her for not using a driver for her errands.—
Aramide Tinubu,
Variety,
13 Mar. 2026
-
Your son is fussing in his car seat.—
Elizabeth Bruenig,
The Atlantic,
12 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Another 800 participants talked with either a sycophantic or non-sycophantic AI model about a real conflict in their own lives before being asked to write a letter to the other person involved in their conflict.—
Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez,
Fortune,
31 Mar. 2026
-
Participants in the new study, which was published today in Science, preferred the sycophantic AI models to other models that gave it to them straight, even when the flatterers gave participants bad advice.—
Allison Parshall,
Scientific American,
26 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Models often learn to flatter users, a tendency known as sycophancy, and will sometimes prioritize this over honesty.—
Ronan Farrow,
New Yorker,
6 Apr. 2026
-
Study came out a little while ago, talking about sycophancy in LLM chats and its effect on sort of attribution of fault during conflict.—
Charlie Warzel,
The Atlantic,
3 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
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
-
The public demand was made based on a social media post from right-wing journalist Laura Loomer, who pointed to a video in which Rice vowed to hold companies accountable for kowtowing to Trump if Democrats regain power in the federal government.—
David Zimmermann,
The Washington Examiner,
22 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
That this man’s-man tough guy becomes utterly servile in the presence of a bunch of slack-casual bazillionaires is the cherry on top of the fascist sundae.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
13 Mar. 2026
-
Julia was the first weekly TV series that starred a Black woman in a role that wasn't servile.—
Starr Rocque,
PEOPLE,
3 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
No more climate change worship, no more division, distraction, or gender delusions.—
Rachel Marsden,
Hartford Courant,
5 Apr. 2026
-
The sunrise worship is a tradition of Kindred Community Church, which keeps the large cross on the hill that is visible from the 91 Freeway near the 241 Toll Road.—
Heather McRea,
Oc Register,
5 Apr. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Toadying.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/toadying. Accessed 11 Apr. 2026.
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