as in flunkey
a person who flatters another in order to get ahead
be careful not to mistake sycophants for true friends
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of sycophant
Ars Technica, 5 Feb. 2025
Where American power is for sale to the biggest sycophants?
—S.e. Cupp, New York Daily News, 4 Feb. 2025
Those vibes were often dictated by the sycophants in Musk’s orbit.
—Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 3 Feb. 2025
Triangle of Sadness parodied the wealthy class and their out-of-touch behaviors; The Menu gorged on monstrous culinary world personalities and the sycophants who feed them; and most recently, Blink Twice confronted the protective bubbles shielding powerful men from accountability.
—Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sycophant
Noun
However, Elez seems closely linked to Musk, who is often criticized for surrounding himself with sycophants.
—Ars Technica, 5 Feb. 2025
Where American power is for sale to the biggest sycophants?
—S.e. Cupp, New York Daily News, 4 Feb. 2025
Those vibes were often dictated by the sycophants in Musk’s orbit.
—Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 3 Feb. 2025
Triangle of Sadness parodied the wealthy class and their out-of-touch behaviors; The Menu gorged on monstrous culinary world personalities and the sycophants who feed them; and most recently, Blink Twice confronted the protective bubbles shielding powerful men from accountability.
—Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sycophant
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sycophant
Adjective
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Already, and despite its shortfalls such as hallucinations – when chatbots make up inexistent facts, and sycophantic behavior – when the bot gives a particular answer to elicit the user’s approval, AI has been shown to outperform CEO’s on a range of tasks.—
Cornelia C. Walther,
Forbes,
11 Mar. 2025
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Research conclusively shows that sycophantic AI behavior undermines trust and meaningful interaction.—
Cornelia C. Walther,
Forbes,
22 Jan. 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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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
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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
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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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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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The actor is a longtime fan of the French soccer team.—
Hannah Malach,
WWD,
10 Mar. 2025
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Bieber is also a fan of trying out different colorways and has so far sported cinnamon brown, chocolate swirl, and a glossy navy blue.—
Ranyechi Udemezue,
Vogue,
10 Mar. 2025
Noun
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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
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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
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
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Cite this Entry
“Sycophant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sycophant. Accessed 24 Mar. 2025.
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