sycophantic

adjective

sy·​co·​phan·​tic ˌsi-kə-ˈfan-tik 

also ˌsī-

: of, relating to, or characteristic of a sycophant : fawning, obsequious

sycophantic compliments

sycophantically

ˌsi-kə-ˈfan-ti-k(ə-)lē 

also ˌsī-

adverb

Examples of sycophantic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Over half a dozen wrongful death lawsuits have been filed against OpenAI, many centering on its GPT-4o model for ChatGPT, which was particularly sycophantic. —Frank Landymore, Futurism, 8 Apr. 2026

The researchers also found that humans who interacted with a sycophantic chatbot were less likely to apologize or take steps to make amends. —Tom Chivers, semafor.com, 5 Apr. 2026

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

Word History

First Known Use

1676, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for sycophantic

• transatlantic
• unromantic
• antic
• frantic
• atlantic
• gigantic
• pedantic
• romantic
• semantic
• vedantic