sycophantic
- Behaving in an obsequious, flattering way toward someone in power in order to gain advantage.
In a sentence
- The sycophantic assistant agreed with everything his boss said, regardless of merit.
- Her sycophantic reviews of the director's mediocre films earned her little respect.
Usage note. Spelling trap: the 'syco-' start (from Greek 'sykon', fig) is counterintuitive; remember it shares the 'syco-' of 'sycamore' and 'psycho-' only by coincidence of letters.
Where it comes from
English sycophantic — “obsequiously flattering” · entered English 16th c.
From Greek 'sykophantes', originally meaning 'one who shows the fig' (from 'sykon', fig, and 'phainein', to show), whose exact original sense is debated but which came to mean 'slanderer' or 'informer' in Greek. Via Latin 'sycophanta' it entered English in the 16th century with the sense of 'toady' or 'flatterer'. Source: Oxford English Dictionary, Etymonline.