as in flunkie
a person who flatters another in order to get ahead
surrounded himself with brainless brownnosers, so no wonder the company went down the tubes
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for brownnoser
Noun
-
Heslov said that Clooney has made sure to keep his old friends close, so he isn’t surrounded by sycophants.—
Thea Traff,
New York Times,
20 Feb. 2025 -
What may be worse is that a gaggle of sycophants and groupthink team members underneath the Dark Empath—the direct reports—create a ruthless echo chamber for the king or queen at the top of Mt. Stupid.—
Dan Pontefract,
Forbes,
11 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
As of this writing, tens of thousands of Americans in government roles have already been fired by Elon’s tech toadies.—
Kara Swisher,
The Atlantic,
9 Mar. 2025
-
But at the end of the Cold War, state sponsors and their toadies lost ground.—
Audrey Kurth Cronin,
Foreign Affairs,
21 Dec. 2011
Noun
-
But the joke’s on us — Republican senators, who are the only players with any real power to stop them, have simply decided not to, all so that President Camacho can play at government with his favorite suck-ups.—
S.E. Cupp,
New York Daily News,
4 Feb. 2025
-
Sara Fischer, Dave Lawler Dec 23, 2024 - Politics & Policy Media's suck-up moment Fearing political retribution and strained by new business challenges, media companies that once covered President-elect Trump with skepticism — and in many cases, disdain — are reconsidering their approach.—
Sara Fischer,
Axios,
14 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
Republican lickspittles like Lindsey Graham and Jim Banks praised Trump and trashed Zelenskyy while Russian leaders rejoiced.—
Maureen Dowd,
The Mercury News,
4 Mar. 2025
-
Of course, being a junior senator and attaching your name to legislation that has little chance of being enacted—none of those have bills passed—is very different from being Vice-President and chief lickspittle to Trump.—
John Cassidy,
The New Yorker,
22 July 2024
Noun
-
Musk and his hacker minions have blown into departments, demanding access to highly sensitive data in pursuit of finding waste, fraud, and abuse—often making cuts and promoting the reductions before fully understanding what was going on.—
Philip Elliott,
Time,
2 Apr. 2025
-
Decisions made today by Trump and his minions will affect our children and our children’s children for years to come.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
19 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
Add Pierce Brosnan to the list of George Clooney's fans!—
Charna Flam,
People.com,
4 Apr. 2025
-
The wait is over for fans anticipating the beginning of Grand Slam Track.—
Katelyn Hutchison,
Forbes.com,
4 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
Back in Montana, every trip Jacob and company take to Bozeman and back is inevitably fraught with peril — if not instigated by dastardly rich guy Donald Whitfield (Timothy Dalton) and/or his henchman Banner Creighton (Jerome Flynn), then by the pitiless nature of extreme weather.—
Matt Brennan,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Mar. 2025
-
In Lynch’s festering neo-noir mystery from 1987, Hopper plays a chronic villain perpetually sipping from a tank of amyl nitrate and handing out hits as a way to manipulate his henchmen.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
14 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
At-home test tackles three most common STIs Chlamydia, gonorrhea and trichomoniasis are three of the most prevalent STIs in the U.S. Both chlamydia and gonorrhea are bacterial infections, while trichomoniasis is caused by a parasite.—
Mary Walrath-Holdridge,
USA Today,
28 Mar. 2025
-
The tropical variety develops a parasite that can make butterflies sick and unable to reproduce.—
Madalyn Mendoza,
Axios,
21 Mar. 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Brownnoser.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/brownnoser. Accessed 15 Apr. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share