Synonyms for flattery
All synonyms
Noun
sycophancy, adulation, compliment, praise, flattering, servility, fawning, blarney, soft-soap, incense, blandishment, wheedling, overpraise, gloze, cajolery, ass-kissing vulgar slang
Definitions
- n. 1
Excessive praise or approval, which is often insincere and sometimes contrived to win favour.
Don't you know that some of his contributions here are pure flattery?
Related words
- Word family
- flatter flattering
- Is a kind of
- courtship praise
Forms
- Plural
- flatteries → sycophancies, adulations, compliments, praises…
Choose the right word
Praise is always understood as genuine and sincere, unless the contrary is expressly stated; compliment is a light form of praise that may or may not be sincere; flattery is insincere and ordinarily fulsome praise.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- compliment Mary wasn't sure how to respond to his compliment.
- flattering Mary posted a flattering picture of herself on Instagram.
- adulation Pop artists thrive on the adulation of their loyal fans.
- sycophancy So much sycophancy was lavished on him that he ended up getting drunk.
- servility How do you define "servility"?
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| flattery | rising | |
| compliment | rising | |
| flattering | rising | |
| adulation | steady | |
| sycophancy | steady | |
| fawning | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 5 letters
- gloze
- 6 letters
- praise1
- 7 letters
- incense2, fawning2, blarney
- 8 letters
- cajolery
- 9 letters
- adulation4, servility4, wheedling
- 10 letters
- compliment3, flattering3, sycophancy, overpraise
- 12 letters
- blandishment3
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (incense2 = 2 syllables).