sycophantic

Everyday

Sycophantic means praising and agreeing with a powerful or important person too much, in a fake way, to get something from them. tree →

In the lessons

In stories, a sycophantic courtier flatters the king; this tells the reader the character is not honest. In school life, the informal words are "teacher's pet", "suck-up" (US), "crawler" (UK, Australia) or "brown-noser" (rude). In honesty lessons, sycophancy is a kind of dishonesty: real kindness tells the truth politely.

Examples

• The sycophantic servants told the king every idea he had was brilliant. tree →
• His sycophantic praise of the boss made everyone cringe. tree →
• Don't be sycophantic; give your honest opinion. tree →
• In the fable, the fox's sycophantic words tricked the crow into dropping the cheese. tree →
• The emperor's sycophantic advisers praised his invisible clothes. tree →
• A good friend tells you the truth, not sycophantic flattery. tree →
• The film's villain was surrounded by sycophantic followers. tree →

Note

Say "sik-oh-FAN-tik". Formal word. Person: a sycophant. Being polite or thanking someone is not sycophantic; it is sycophantic when the praise is fake and meant to gain favour.