sycophantic
/sɪkəˈfæntɪk/
sycophantic adjective: excessively eager to please, especially for personal gain; obsequious, flattering.
Adjective
sycophantic (comparative more sycophantic, superlative most sycophantic)
- Excessively eager to please, especially for personal gain; obsequious, flattering.
- The sycophantic slags all say / "I knew him first, and I knew him well"1987, “Paint a Vulgar Picture”, in Morrissey (lyrics), Johnny Marr (music), Strangeways, Here We Come, performed by The Smiths
- I melt into a sycophantic soup, and all that’s left to do is giggle, fawn and swoon.2011, Felix Hagan, “Just Like All The Rest”, in Dawn Breaks, the Monster Wakes...
- Synonyms:
- asslicky, fawning, greasy, groveling, ingratiating, obsequious, oily, oleaginous, schmoozy, self-abasing
sycophantic meaning in Tamil and Malayalam
sycophantic in Tamil
- அண்டிப் பிழைக்கிற, ஒட்டி வாழ்கிற, கெஞ்சிப் பிழைக்கிற, அடிமைத்தள மிக்க
sycophantic in Malayalam
- subservient, obsequious, servile
- മൂഖസ്തുതിരൂപമായ, മുഖസ്തുതി പറയുന്ന, മുഖസ്തുതിക്കാരനായ, വാഴ്ത്തിപ്പാടുന്ന, സ്തുതിപാഠകനായ, പാദസേവ ചെയ്യന്ന
Examples of sycophantic in a sentence
- when the princess’s former nanny Marion Crawford, “Crawfie”, published an entirely anodyne and sycophantic memoir in 1950, she was cast into outer darkness by the family.2022 September 8, Stephen Bates, “Queen Elizabeth II obituary”, in The Guardian:
- Then, at the 40 minute mark, [US Vice President J.D.] Vance chimed in with some sycophantic nonsense.2025 February 28, Jonah Goldberg, “Dishonor and Incompetence in the Oval Office”, in The Dispatch:
Synonyms of sycophantic
Antonyms
Forms of sycophantic
| comparative | more sycophantic |
|---|---|
| superlative | most sycophantic |
Origin of sycophantic
From Ancient Greek σῡκοφᾰντῐκός (sūkophăntĭkós). By surface analysis, sycophant + -ic.
Words formed from sycophantic
Words that rhyme with sycophantic
- romantic
- antic
- atlantic
- frantic
- gigantic
- semantic
- Willimantic
- panromantic
- pedantic
- transromantic
- mantic
- marantic
1 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about sycophantic
- What does sycophantic mean?
- Sycophantic means excessively eager to please, especially for personal gain; obsequious, flattering.
- What is sycophantic in Tamil?
- Sycophantic in Tamil is அண்டிப் பிழைக்கிற, ஒட்டி வாழ்கிற, கெஞ்சிப் பிழைக்கிற. See Sycophantic meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use sycophantic in a sentence?
- when the princess’s former nanny Marion Crawford, “Crawfie”, published an entirely anodyne and sycophantic memoir in 1950, she was cast into outer darkness by the family.
- What part of speech is sycophantic?
- Sycophantic is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce sycophantic?
- Sycophantic is pronounced /sɪkəˈfæntɪk/.
Words near sycophantic in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sycophantic (page history and authors); sycophantic (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); sycophantic (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sycophantic.wav.
Cite this entry: “sycophantic.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sycophantic. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.