sycophant

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noun

One who flatters another excessively: adulator, courtier, flatterer, toady. Informal apple-polisher. See over/under, praise/blame.

sycophant (sykophantēs, ‘figdenouncer’), at Athens, a man who prosecuted another maliciously, on a trumped-up charge, for the sake of private gain. For most offences at Athens there was no public prosecutor; that role was left to a public-spirited private individual, but the system was open to abuse. Since there could be financial rewards for bringing successful prosecutions (a share of the fines), or a rich victim could be blackmailed into paying off a would-be prosecutor, those individuals who made a habit of such prosecutions earned this abusive name, the origin of which is obscure. Today ‘sycophantic’ means ‘obsequious’.

A cynical view of the world by Ambrose Bierce

n.

One who approaches Greatness on his belly so that he may not be commanded to turn and be kicked. He is sometimes an editor.

    As the lean leech, its victim found, is pleased
    To fix itself upon a part diseased
    Till, its black hide distended with bad blood,
    It drops to die of surfeit in the mud,
    So the base sycophant with joy descries
    His neighbor's weak spot and his mouth applies,
    Gorges and prospers like the leech, although,
    Unlike that reptile, he will not let go.
    Gelasma, if it paid you to devote
    Your talent to the service of a goat,
    Showing by forceful logic that its beard
    Is more than Aaron's fit to be revered;
    If to the task of honoring its smell
    Profit had prompted you, and love as well,
    The world would benefit at last by you
    And wealthy malefactors weep anew --
    Your favor for a moment's space denied
    And to the nobler object turned aside.
    Is't not enough that thrifty millionaires
    Who loot in freight and spoliate in fares,
    Or, cursed with consciences that bid them fly
    To safer villainies of darker dye,
    Forswearing robbery and fain, instead,
    To steal (they call it "cornering") our bread
    May see you groveling their boots to lick
    And begging for the favor of a kick?
    Still must you follow to the bitter end
    Your sycophantic disposition's trend,
    And in your eagerness to please the rich
    Hunt hungry sinners to their final ditch?
    In Morgan's praise you smite the sounding wire,
    And sing hosannas to great Havemeyher!
    What's Satan done that him you should eschew?
    He too is reeking rich -- deducting you.

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IN BRIEF: n. - One who flatters others for his own personal gain.

The billionaire refused to be surrounded by sycophants.

Tutor's tip: This was the final winning word in the 1963 National Spelling Bee.

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For a list of words related to sycophant, see:

• Behavior or Personality

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See words rhyming with "sycophant."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Sycophant.

Dansk (Danish)
n. - spytslikker, smigrer

Nederlands (Dutch)
hielenlikker

Français (French)
n. - flagorneur

Deutsch (German)
n. - Kriecher

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ευτελής κόλακας, τσανακογλείφτης

Italiano (Italian)
leccapiedi

Português (Portuguese)
n. - adulador (m)

Русский (Russian)
льстец, подхалим, лизоблюд

Español (Spanish)
n. - sicofante, lameculos, adulador, lisonjero

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - smickrare, lismare, snyltgäst

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
拍马屁的人, 奉承者, 谄媚者

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 拍馬屁的人, 奉承者, 諂媚者

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 아첨꾼, 알랑쇠

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 追従屋, おべっか使い

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) المتملق الذليل‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מתרפס, חנפן‬

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