as in flunkey
a person who flatters another in order to get ahead
a partisan news program whose host is more of a lickspittle for the White House than a serious journalist
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of lickspittle
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
Such as holding court, choosing your sobriquet, and naming imbecilic lickspittles to our Kingsguard.
—Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 7 July 2024
Of course, the real blame for all this goes to the gutless lickspittles in the U.S. Senate, who, in an impeachment proceeding just weeks after the insurrection, could have restored the nation’s dignity and voted to bar Trump from ever running again.
—Christian Schneider, National Review, 21 Dec. 2023
What happened to the idea that art and culture should be a contemptuous refuge from the mainstream, as opposed to this lickspittle, running dog accommodation to the mainstream?
—Billboard Staff, Billboard, 3 June 2022
What's more, Louis DeJoy, the Trump lickspittle and longtime Republican donor (with a massive financial conflict of interest) now serving as postmaster general, has royally messed up mail service.
—Ryan Cooper, TheWeek, 11 Aug. 2020
And Washington is revealed once again as our modern Versailles, a place of courtiers and lickspittles who’d use the Ministry of Justice to serve their ambitions.
—John Kass, chicagotribune.com, 15 June 2018
Ricardians denounce Shakespeare as a lickspittle hack who favored Henry Tudor —the winner at Bosworth and Elizabeth I’s grandfather—over Richard’s branch of the House of York.
—Andrew Roberts, WSJ, 30 Apr. 2018
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
Such as holding court, choosing your sobriquet, and naming imbecilic lickspittles to our Kingsguard.
—Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 7 July 2024
Of course, the real blame for all this goes to the gutless lickspittles in the U.S. Senate, who, in an impeachment proceeding just weeks after the insurrection, could have restored the nation’s dignity and voted to bar Trump from ever running again.
—Christian Schneider, National Review, 21 Dec. 2023
What happened to the idea that art and culture should be a contemptuous refuge from the mainstream, as opposed to this lickspittle, running dog accommodation to the mainstream?
—Billboard Staff, Billboard, 3 June 2022
What's more, Louis DeJoy, the Trump lickspittle and longtime Republican donor (with a massive financial conflict of interest) now serving as postmaster general, has royally messed up mail service.
—Ryan Cooper, TheWeek, 11 Aug. 2020
And Washington is revealed once again as our modern Versailles, a place of courtiers and lickspittles who’d use the Ministry of Justice to serve their ambitions.
—John Kass, chicagotribune.com, 15 June 2018
Ricardians denounce Shakespeare as a lickspittle hack who favored Henry Tudor —the winner at Bosworth and Elizabeth I’s grandfather—over Richard’s branch of the House of York.
—Andrew Roberts, WSJ, 30 Apr. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lickspittle
Noun
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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
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Of course, Veep’s sycophants, buffoons, and backstabbers bear little resemblance to the vanguard of our latest regime.—
Judy Berman,
TIME,
20 Feb. 2025
Noun
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This won’t end well, especially in a no-guardrails administration staffed by a how-high team of enablers and toadies.—
Bret Stephens,
The Mercury News,
13 Mar. 2025
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But a moment later, after he’s swatted down one of the two new toadies at Beck’s kitchen table for making a lewd remark about Annette, his senses seem newly awakened.—
Chris Klimek,
Vulture,
6 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Tatlin scholarship is whispery on his time in Kyiv, for the excellent reason that Stalin’s minions torched most evidence of it.—
Jackson Arn,
The New Yorker,
10 Mar. 2025
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But the largest driving force behind the return-to-work mandates, suggest the early scholarship, is CEOs feeling lonely without minions.—
Dan Vergano,
Scientific American,
12 Feb. 2025
Noun
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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
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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
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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
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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
Noun
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In addition, old nests can also harbor parasites and pathogens that might be harmful to the birds.—
Sarah Kuta,
Smithsonian Magazine,
7 Mar. 2025
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These real-world parasites have inspired everything from horror movies to the hit HBO series The Last of Us, which envisions a future where a mutated Cordyceps fungus jumps to humans.—
Scott Travers,
Forbes,
6 Mar. 2025
Noun
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No matter what spec-chart flunkies might say about a car that merely hits 60 mph in 3.1 seconds, GT 63 proved as ferocious and exhilarating as any front-engine GT car available, whether German, Italian or English.—
Mark Ewing,
Forbes,
30 Dec. 2024
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Jin and his other flunkies excuse themselves, but Tetsu keeps Botan there to question him.—
Chris Klimek,
Vulture,
24 July 2024
Cite this Entry
“Lickspittle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lickspittle. Accessed 23 Mar. 2025.
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