Bootlicking

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Obsequious or servile behaviour. countable, uncountable

    "The most obvious — for a junior struggling to lift himself from the mire by his bootlickings — is to go to his Chief and say — frankly — "Out! I need the experience and you need a rest. Clear off for a month or two. I'll cope.""

  2. 2
    The act of licking someone's boot, typically as a BDSM activity. countable, literally, uncountable

    "[…] fist-fucking, black leather-studded collars, and bootlicking."

Verb
  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of bootlick form-of, gerund, participle, present
Adjective
  1. 1
    attempting to win favor by flattery wordnet
  2. 2
    attempting to win favor from influential people by flattery wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
abjectapple polishingback scratchingbeggarlycrawlingfawning

Example

More examples

"He's too bootlicking and selfish."

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.