Word of the Day

Friday, November 05, 2004

obsequious

\ob-SEE-kwee-us\ , adjective;

Servilely attentive; compliant to excess; fawning.

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Quotes:

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

Origin:

Obsequious comes from Latin obsequiosus, from obsequium, "compliance," from obsequi, "to comply with," from ob-, "toward" + sequi, "to follow."