Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A servile self-seeker who attempts to win favor by flattering influential people.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A tale-bearer or informer in general.
- n. A parasite; a mean flatterer; especially, a flatterer of princes and great men.
- n. Synonyms Parasite, Sycophant (see parasite), fawner, toady, toad-eater, flunkey.
- Parasitical; servile; obsequious; sycophantic.
- To give information about, or tell tales of, in order to gain favor; calumniate.
- To play the sycophant toward; flatter meanly and officiously.
- To play the sycophant.
Wiktionary
- n. One who uses compliments to gain self-serving favor or advantage from another.
- n. One who seeks to gain through the powerful and influential.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. obsolete An informer; a talebearer.
- n. A base parasite; a mean or servile flatterer; especially, a flatterer of princes and great men.
- v. obsolete To inform against; hence, to calumniate.
- v. To play the sycophant toward; to flatter obsequiously.
- v. To play the sycophant.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a person who tries to please someone in order to gain a personal advantage
Etymologies
- First attested in 1537. From Latin sȳcophanta ("informer, trickster"), from Ancient Greek συκοφάντης (sukophantēs), itself from σῦκον (sukon, "fig") + φαίνω (phainō, "I show, demonstrate"). The gesture of "showing the fig" was a vulgar one, which was made by sticking the thumb between two fingers, a display which vaguely resembles a fig, which is itself symbolic of a (sykon 'vagina' also meant vulva). The story behind this etymology is that politicians in ancient Greece steered clear of displaying that vulgar gesture, but urged their followers sub rosa to taunt their opponents by using it. (Wiktionary)
- Latin sȳcophanta, informer, slanderer, from Greek sūkophantēs, informer, from sūkon phainein, to show a fig (probably originally said of denouncers of theft or exportation of figs) : sūkon, fig + phainein, to show. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“It is interesting, this Dwight Shrute troll who takes the moniker of the simpering sycophant from the very funny TV program The Office.”
“Funny, I heard the word sycophant used by of all people, Mark Levin, to describe people so desperate to win that they would distort the truth in any way to to do it.”
McCain Campaign Falsely Claims Obama Described Court's Failure to Redistribute Wealth As "Tragedy"
“You either have a very peculiar understanding of the word sycophant, or very little familiarity with my posting record...”
“Since the law was abused in order to accuse the innocent, the name sycophant was given to calumniators and to the too numerous class of informers at Athens who subsisted on the money their denunciations brought them.”
“The proper meaning of the word sycophant was this: There was a law in Athens which prohibited the importation of figs. The sycophant”
“My hunch is, Lieberman sees the direction of the political winds, and hopes to convince Democrats that while he’s been a McCain sycophant, he’s always been “respectful” towards Obama.”
“Unless the fleet is looking for a new sycophant, that is ...”
“Someone in Denver, who doesn't like Democrats, can spell "sycophant".”
“According to news reports, Fallon derided Petraeus as a "sycophant" and told him to his face that he considered him to be "an ass-kissing little chickenshit.”
“Sources say that Dr. Frist began the lunch by asking, "What kind of sycophant would you like me to be, Mr. President?”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘sycophant’.
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Test Prep or Just for fun
Building a list for standardized test prep or just for learning some new words! Please add any words that you feel are important for the SAT/GRE/GMAT etc...
throng, morass, parley, facile, kismet, strife, jetsam, carrion, annex, harbinger, vestige, surreptitious and 575 more...
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sdamle1
echt
echt, apocalypse, resurgence, forthright, logorrhea, mercurial, torrid, exorcise, obscure, intrusive, morose, vindictive and 100 more...
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7thGradeWords
horde, doggedly, retina, frail, jovial, insidious, injudicious, brazen, tentative, hortle, adaver, benign and 91 more...
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501
Classic
mete, ire, bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado, toil, onus, aberration, abstruse, anomaly and 401 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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GRE 2014
abate, abdicate, abase, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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EN - eloquence in public speaking
Key words from "The Training of a Public Speaker" by Grenville Kleiser (New York and London, 1920)
beget, imago, Vespasian, languid, studied, judgment, dwindle, artifice, contribute, observe, sonorous, gladiator and 264 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2046 more...
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Unsavory characters
absconder, aretaloger, arriviste, avaunter, bamboozler, bandit, banger, barbarian, barmecide, barrator, beldam, blatherskite and 190 more...
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gre words
convoluted, deride, melancholy, antagonize, antagonize, deference, portentous, prodigious, ruminate, ineffable, turgid, mossy and 58 more...
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PART 2: 100 Word You Should Know To B...
Here are 40 advanced English words which should you be able to use them in a sentence will impress even educated native speakers! Perfect if you want to impress the examiner in examinations like: I...
jubilant, knell, lithe, lurid, maverick, maxim, meticulous, modicum, morose, myriad, nadir, nominal and 28 more...
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GRE
GRE words from Princeton Review guide, ETS GRE Book from 2010 (for revised test), New Yorker/NY Times articles.
sycophant, obsequious, volubility, equanimity, enervate, effrontery, impertinent, platitude, impudence, quiescent, propitiate, equivocate and 124 more...
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DAY5_01/08/2013
picayune, lagniappe, melee, demur, parvenu, sangfroid, zeitgeist, bwana, nabob, arriviste, amuck, pariah and 6 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for sycophant.
jmjarmstrong JM reckons a sycophant is a person who stoops to concur. Aug 25, 2011
valse A little etymological treat, in my opinion: "one who shows the fig." Jun 18, 2007