Nearby Words
noun
a self-seeking, servile flatterer; fawning parasite.
Origin:
1530–40; < Latin sȳcophanta < Greek sȳkophántēs informer, equivalent to sŷko(n) fig + phan- (stem of phaínein to show) + -tēs agentive suffix
1530–40; < Latin sȳcophanta < Greek sȳkophántēs informer, equivalent to sŷko(n) fig + phan- (stem of phaínein to show) + -tēs agentive suffix
Related forms
syc·o·phan·tic, syc·o·phan·ti·cal, syc·o·phant·ish, adjective
syc·o·phan·ti·cal·ly, syc·o·phant·ish·ly, adverb
syc·o·phant·ism, noun
Synonyms
toady, yes man, flunky, fawner, flatterer.
toady, yes man, flunky, fawner, flatterer.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source
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Sycophantic
is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
| a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal. |
Example Sentences
- Divisional managers tend to be quite sycophantic and not independent.
- Essays full of sycophantic drivel wouldn't have fit the prompt.
- All this sycophantic guff reflects widespread ignorance about what the queen has actually done.
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
sycophant
1537 (in L. form sycophanta), "informer, talebearer, slanderer," from L. sycophanta, from Gk. sykophantes, originally "one who shows the fig," from sykon "fig" + phanein "to show." "Showing the fig" was a vulgar gesture made by sticking the thumb between two fingers, a display which vaguely resembles
EXPANDa fig, itself symbolic of a cunt (sykon also meant "vulva"). The story goes that prominent politicians in ancient Greece held aloof from such inflammatory gestures, but privately urged their followers to taunt their opponents. The sense of "mean, servile flatterer" is first recorded in Eng. 1575.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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