Word.ws English Dictionary

kiss up

kiss up verb: to pay false flattery to another, particularly a superior at work, in order to get special attention.

Verb

kiss up (third-person singular simple present kisses up, present participle kissing up, simple past and past participle kissed up)

  1. (idiomatic, transitive) To pay false flattery to another, particularly a superior at work, in order to get special attention.
    • Yes, I watched Joe kissing up the boss and was very annoyed when he got my promotion!
  2. (idiomatic, intransitive) To pay false flattery.
    • He kisses up more than he works.

Synonyms of kiss up

13 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Forms of kiss up

third-person singular presentkisses up
present participlekissing up
past participlekissed up
pastkissed up
alternative formkiss-up

Words formed from kiss up

Questions about kiss up

What does kiss up mean?
Kiss up means to pay false flattery to another, particularly a superior at work, in order to get special attention.
What part of speech is kiss up?
Kiss up is a verb.
What is the past tense of kiss up?
The past tense of kiss up is kissed up.

Words near kiss up in the dictionary

  1. kiss the ground someone walks on
  2. kiss the gunner's daughter
  3. kiss the hem of someone's garment
  4. kiss the ring
  5. kiss the rod
  6. kiss up
  7. kiss up to
  8. kiss up, kick down
  9. kiss your sister
  10. kiss'd
  11. kiss, cuddle or torture

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kiss up (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-kiss up.ogg.

Cite this entry: “kiss up.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kiss_up. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.