Word.ws English Dictionary

gnathonic

/nəˈθɒnɪk/

gnathonic adjective: deceitful and flattering; toadying.

Adjective

gnathonic (comparative more gnathonic, superlative most gnathonic)

  1. (obsolete) Deceitful and flattering; toadying.
    • That Jack's is somewhat of a gnathonic and parasitic soul, or stomach, all Bideford apple-women know: […]1855, Charles Kingsley, “The True and Tragical History of Mr. John Oxenham of Plymouth”, in Westward Ho!: Or, The Voyages and Adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight, […], volume I, Cambridge...

Forms of gnathonic

comparativemore gnathonic
superlativemost gnathonic
alternative formgnathonical

Origin of gnathonic

Borrowed from Medieval Latin Gnathōnicus, from Gnathō (genitive Gnathōnis), name of a parasitical character in the Eunuchus of Terence. Gnathō is from Ancient Greek γνάθος (gnáthos, “jaw”), used in the genitive γνάθου (gnáthou, “of a jaw”) to mean “greedy”; hence, a parasite in general.

Questions about gnathonic

What does gnathonic mean?
Gnathonic means deceitful and flattering; toadying.
What part of speech is gnathonic?
Gnathonic is an adjective.
How do you pronounce gnathonic?
Gnathonic is pronounced /nəˈθɒnɪk/.

Words near gnathonic in the dictionary

  1. gnathodynamometers
  2. gnathological
  3. gnathologist
  4. gnathologists
  5. gnathology
  6. gnathonic
  7. gnathonical
  8. gnathophiurine
  9. gnathophiurines
  10. gnathophyllid
  11. gnathophyllids

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gnathonic (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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