as in subordinate
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in fussing
to use flattery or the doing of favors in order to win approval especially from a superior
you can try kowtowing to the boss, but he'll see right through you
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for kowtowing
Adjective
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Trump's recent rhetoric and aggressive tariff policies have revived concerns that his administration sees Canada as a subordinate economic partner rather than a sovereign ally.—
William Lambers,
Newsweek,
10 Mar. 2025 -
The president is required by Article II Section 3 to enforce orders of the Supreme Court or subordinate federal tribunals.—
Bruce Fein,
Baltimore Sun,
3 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Trump’s servile devotion to Putin becomes the new norm overnight as Republicans cower in support of Trump’s new Putin policy.—
Bob Kustra,
Chicago Tribune,
7 Mar. 2025
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His co-stars, like Will Ferrell’s savage Mugatu, Owen Wilson’s stoner hottie Hansel, and Nathan Lee Graham’s servile Todd — all so precise and well-defined in the original’s ravelike milieu — are doomed to retrace their old steps here.—
Sean Malin,
Vulture,
5 Sep. 2024
Adjective
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Many, if not most, of these figures earned Trump’s loyalty by using their platforms to be obsequious stewards of MAGA—in effect, creating a quasi–state media.—
Ali Breland,
The Atlantic,
28 Feb. 2025
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Rhodes scholars have long had a reputation for being obsequious careerists, transforming themselves into whatever the elite consensus of the day deems worthy.—
airmail.news,
airmail.news,
1 June 2024
Adjective
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More importantly to the court proceedings that would follow in later decades, the group stressed that women are subservient to men, a belief that William wholeheartedly embraced, his ex-wife says.—
Justin Wingerter,
The Denver Post,
10 Mar. 2025
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So essentially, Hera takes this subservient position as a compromise to keep reality from crumbling.—
Mathew Rodriguez,
Them,
12 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Nonetheless, the film’s tension is almost immediately diffused by a slavish devotion to the facts.—
Gregory Nussen,
Deadline,
26 Feb. 2025
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Yet in Kim’s slavish dedication to the Jeju haenyeo’s testimony, many questions that arise in this setting are left unexplored.—
Geoffrey Bunting,
Rolling Stone,
11 Oct. 2024
Adjective
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His oxygen tank sat at his knees like an obedient mastiff.—
Brandon Taylor,
The Atlantic,
4 Jan. 2025
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Anyone who meets the gentle, obedient boy would never call him that.—
Bebe Hodges,
USA TODAY,
15 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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Washington has become the court of Nero: an incendiary emperor, submissive courtiers, and a buffoon on ketamine tasked with purging the civil service.—
Claude Malhuret,
The Atlantic,
8 Mar. 2025
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However, these works — all written by men — portrayed Veronika as a fragile, submissive woman, passively awaiting her fate.—
Leo Barraclough,
Variety,
14 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new exhibition (March 25) takes a wary view of its own contents, which span half a millennium, arguing that the West acted out its daydreams of a docile Orient one cup-and-saucer at a time.—
Shauna Lyon,
The New Yorker,
28 Feb. 2025
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Mark is taller and brighter than Darren but infinitely more docile and far less street-smart.—
Charles McNulty,
Los Angeles Times,
12 Feb. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Kowtowing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/kowtowing. Accessed 24 Mar. 2025.
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