Fawning
adj, noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Servile flattery.
"Hamlet: No, let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp, And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee Where thrift may follow fawning."
- 1 present participle and gerund of fawn form-of, gerund, participle, present
"That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired."
- 1 Seeking favor by way of flattery; flattering, servile.
"Shylock: How like a fawning publican he looks ![…]"
- 1 attempting to win favor by flattery wordnet
- 2 attempting to win favor from influential people by flattery wordnet
Example
More examples"The president-elect's cabinet selection process appeared in disarray, even as his fawning acolytes disputed multiple news reports of backbiting, vendettas, infighting and persistent, bitter acrimony. With the constantly ongoing palace intrigue, it was difficult to know for certain who was in charge."
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.