Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Excessive flattery or admiration.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Servile flattery; excessive or unmerited praise; exaggerated compliment.
- n. Synonyms Adulation, Flattery, Compliment. These are varieties of praise. Adulation is servile and fulsome, proceeding either from a blind worship or from the hope of advantage. It may not be, but generally is, addressed directly to its object. Flattery is addressed to the person flattered; its object is to gratify vanity, with or without a selfish ulterior object. It is generally praise beyond justice. Compliment is milder, and may be expressive of the truth; it may be sincere and designed to encourage or to express respect and esteem. We may speak of a compliment, but not of an adulation or a flattery. Adulation of the conqueror; gross or delicate flattery of those in power; the language of compliment. In conduct, the correspondent to adulation is obsequiousness.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Servile flattery; praise in excess, or beyond what is merited.
WordNet 3.0
- n. servile flattery; exaggerated and hypocritical praise
Etymologies
- Middle English adulacioun, from Old French, from Latin adūlātiō, adūlātiōn-, from adūlātus, past participle of adūlārī, to flatter.
Examples
“Liberals have their own celebrities, and I think sometimes their adulation is a little much.”
“The adulation is similar to the one that was extended to Griffin. (and many before) We'll only be able to judge after a few years of his tenure (if approved).”
“The adulation is similar to the one that was extended to Griffin.”
“I wonder what will happen when the feel-good adulation is dissolved by reality and the dumbed-down true believers awaken to the painful fact that nothing will change?”
“Ignacio particularly loved to imitate exactly the way María Elena walked, turning one foot inward, in adulation rather than any sort of mockery.”
“It won't affect KT, who's just surrounded by love and adulation from the great unwashed anyway, but it would definitely take some of the spice out of the more inane threads by the lesser bloggers.”
“Fortunately the adulation is only a few layers deep.”
“He raised those tattooed arms in adulation of his God, stood from his pew with his head upturned so that tears flowed down his checks and onto his wrinkled neck.”
“I can understand why public displays of emotion in adulation of Jesus might be off-putting or even uncomfortable to some people these days -- and maybe even threatening.”
“Moreover, he has learned that being a callous, insensitive bully has gotten him a loyal audience and enormous adulation from a public that likes raw, obnoxious ranting from their political commentators.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘adulation’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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#faveword
Words chosen as favorites for the Twitter hashtag #faveword.
autumnal, grotto, chiaroscuro, sfumato, homunculus, zing, zest, effervescent, bewitch, avuncular, susurrus, Styrofoam and 205 more...
Kristianto2010 Despite the adulation she received, something troubled her. Guilt overtook her and pushed her to the brink of a nervous breakdown.
Jan 8, 2011