Word of the Day Archive
Sunday November 17, 2002
obsequious \ob-SEE-kwee-us\ , adjective:
Servilely attentive; compliant to excess; fawning.
His wealth nevertheless turns the townspeople into groveling, obsequious sycophants.
-- Stephen Holden, "The Best Man': When She Says 'I Do,' She Means 'Not You'", New York Times, August 14, 1998
Politicians these days have to pretend to like football, and I am tired of their obsequious, crowd-pleasing football jokes.
-- Margaret Drabble, "Will the BBC pay up?", Times (London), July 6, 2000
This is a brazenly stylish restaurant where the staff are razor-sharp and not remotely obsequious.
-- Orna Mulcahy, "Brash, edgy -- and so good", Irish Times, August 1, 2000
Obsequious comes from Latin obsequiosus, from obsequium, "compliance," from obsequi, "to comply with," from ob-, "toward" + sequi, "to follow."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for obsequious
