fawning 1 of 3

adjective

Definition of fawningnext
as in obsequious

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

fawning

2 of 3

noun

as in sycophancy

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

fawning

3 of 3

verb

present participle of fawn
as in fussing
to use flattery or the doing of favors in order to win approval especially from a superior a student who could not wait to fawn over the new teacher

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for fawning
  1. obsequious
  2. sycophancy
  3. servile
  4. adoration
  5. slavish
  6. subordinate
  7. worship
  8. subservient
Adjective
  • What was criminal in the eyes of Putin and occasioned Navalny’s death was his work exposing the tyrant, his obsequious oligarchs and lickspittle party United Russia as crooks, thieves and killers.
    Bruce Fein, Baltimore Sun, 15 Nov. 2024
  • Sunny initially speaks in an obsequious ChatGPT-generic tone, but the robot gradually adopts Suzie’s speech patterns, softening Suzie’s initial skepticism.
    Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 20 Nov. 2024
Definition of obsequious
Noun
  • A certain amount of sycophancy toward the more bizarre elements of the coalition is also common.
    Benjamin Mazer, The Atlantic, 25 Nov. 2024
  • Other tests showed that models can show what’s called a sycophancy bias — the tendency of an LLM to backpedal on a correct answer to please the user.
    Stephen Ornes, Quanta Magazine, 8 Nov. 2024
Definition of sycophancy
Adjective
  • 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
  • These officials could, in turn, redistribute some of their private goods among their own servile lieutenants, but the monarch retained ultimate power to grant or revoke their privileged status.
    Serhiy Kudelia, Foreign Affairs, 27 Feb. 2014
Definition of servile
Noun
  • It’s been a game changer in my household where, tragically, my partner doesn’t share my adoration of Champagne and other fizz.
    Anna Lee Iijima, Chicago Tribune, 11 Dec. 2024
  • Her family, including two brothers, were connected through their adoration for movies and music.
    Gary Baum, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Dec. 2024
Definition of adoration
Adjective
  • 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
  • By the beginning of 1956, some American communists openly blamed the poor state of their party on Moscow’s ideological inflexibility—and their own leaders’ slavish obedience to Soviet officials.
    Jeremy Friedman, Foreign Affairs, 17 July 2024
Definition of slavish
Adjective
  • The social critique was still in there but subordinate to these rich, comically flawed characters, each getting something like their own book.
    Adam Moss, Vulture, 25 Nov. 2024
  • The four-star Army general in charge of U.S. Central Command is under investigation on allegations of pushing a subordinate service member during a recent trip to the Middle East, according to three U.S. officials familiar with the investigation.
    Courtney Kube, NBC News, 31 Oct. 2024
Definition of subordinate
Noun
  • The Sunday Masses underscore Notre Dame's dual role as a place of worship and a symbol of communal resilience.
    THOMAS ADAMSON AND SYLVIE CORBET THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, arkansasonline.com, 9 Dec. 2024
  • For the first time since a blaze engulfed it in 2019, the towering Gothic masterpiece reopened for worship.
    Thomas Adamson and John Leicester, Los Angeles Times, 7 Dec. 2024
Definition of worship
Adjective
  • This sci-fi film takes viewers to a near future where our main character Nick (Michele Morrone), a construction foreman struggling to manage his family while his wife Maggie (Madeline Zima) battles a serious illness, turns to a subservient robot named Alice (played by Fox) for help.
    Travis Bean, Forbes, 7 Dec. 2024
  • Male fantasies à la the movie Her abound, centered around a subservient love interest with no bodily or emotional needs of her own.
    Emily Watlington, ARTnews.com, 27 Nov. 2024
Definition of subservient
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.

Thesaurus Entries Near fawning

fawners

fawning

fawns

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Cite this Entry

“Fawning.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fawning. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.

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More from Merriam-Webster on fawning

Nglish: Translation of fawning for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of fawning for Arabic Speakers

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