groveling 1 of 2

adjective

variants or grovelling
Definition of grovelingnext
as in fawning

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

groveling

2 of 2

verb

variants or grovelling
present participle of grovel
1
as in flinching
to draw back or crouch down in fearful submission the way in which the abused dog would grovel whenever its owner came near

Synonyms & Similar Words
2
as in crawling
to move slowly with the body close to the ground because of their anatomy, bats can only grovel while moving along the ground

Synonyms & Similar Words

Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for groveling
  1. obsequious
  2. servile
  3. cowering
  4. sycophantic
  5. slithering
  6. subservient
  7. worshipful
  8. hagiographic
Adjective
  • What about her incessantly supportive mother (Rosemarie DeWitt) or her obsequious assistant (Miles Gutierrez-Riley)?
    Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 17 Oct. 2024
  • Those words were the theme for the entire stay, from the friendly but not obsequious doormen, to the at-the-ready house car (a hybrid Bentley SUV, naturally), to the peaceful, never-overcrowded Hanover Square directly across the street.
    Laura Ratliff, Travel + Leisure, 19 Oct. 2024
Definition of obsequious
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
Verb
  • The trauma of war is ever-present in Honda's vision, which sees citizens fleeing for their lives and cowering in the rubble of their homes.
    Katie Rife, EW.com, 18 Oct. 2024
  • Neither do the cowering members of Slough House.
    Erik Kain, Forbes, 9 Oct. 2024
Definition of cowering
Adjective
  • Unlike other, sycophantic portions of right-wing media, Kirk isn’t simply a hanger-on to the conservative elite.
    Ali Breland, The Atlantic, 5 Nov. 2024
  • Driver begins the show unsteadily; his early scenes with Nancy and with Jimmy (Keith Nobbs), a sycophantic assistant, lack confidence and dimension.
    Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2024
Definition of sycophantic
Verb
  • The border wall stretched out like a snake slithering up and down hills to the horizon.
    Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct. 2024
  • But a snake slithering across the top step of the dugout when your team is trailing by six runs in the fifth inning of a National League Championship Series game?
    Steve Henson, Los Angeles Times, 15 Oct. 2024
Definition of slithering
Adjective
  • This is a consequence of complaints about the subservient and obliging female voices of Sky and, earlier, of Siri and Alexa.
    Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2024
  • And the subservient leadership training that the program went through over the summer — a three-day, approximately five-hour course that Jeremiah, who has been at the school for 21 years, insisted his coaches and players take — proved crucial amid this fall’s adversity.
    Kyle Newman, The Denver Post, 4 Oct. 2024
Definition of subservient
Adjective
  • In a country given to worshipful talk of Founding Fathers, this is not a new subject on the political stage.
    Molly Fischer, The New Yorker, 1 Oct. 2024
  • Today, Robeson is remembered as an ascendant figure in any cultural history of America in the twentieth century, the subject of thick biographies, the inspiration for academic conferences, and the topic of worshipful documentaries.
    Thomas Doherty, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Oct. 2024
Definition of worshipful
Adjective
  • This is no hagiographic portrait of Czechoslovak Radio as a beacon of civic resistance.
    Manuel Betancourt, Variety, 30 Oct. 2024
  • Her book makes a refreshing change from the hagiographic tone of most Bowie biographies, said John Aizlewood on iNews.
    The Week Staff, theweek, 6 June 2024
Definition of hagiographic
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 groveling

grovelers

groveling

grovels

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Cite this Entry

“Groveling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/groveling. Accessed 23 Nov. 2024.

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