sycophancy

• He composed his face into an expression suggestive of a mixture of devotion to duty, selfesteem and simpering sycophancy, and applied his hands to the typewriter. —  A Demon In My View
• A fawning sycophancy or little meannesses were unknown; social intercourse was unrestrained because all were honorable, and that reserve which so plainly speaks suspicion of your company was never seen. —  The Memories of Fifty Years
• His habitual reticence springs mainly from real, inward strength of nature; but partly also from that same unsocial pride which lays him so broadly open to the arts of sycophancy, and thus draws him, as if spellbound, under the tainted breath of that strange compound of braggart, liar, and fop. —  Shakespeare: His Life, Art, And Characters, Volume I.
• It was as if, for a second, they actually believed they were about to make some proper television rather than get themselves messy in the overlit, sycophancy-session that followed. —  Watch With Mothers
• This in effect creates an atmosphere of sycophancy which apologises for everything from genuine concern over the state of the World Cup plans (did you not see how Cozier speaks for Chris Dehring on cue?) to West Indies team selections. —  CaribbeanCricket.com

Used in the Same Context