as in flunkie
a person who flatters another in order to get ahead
surrounded himself with brainless brownnosers, so no wonder the company went down the tubes
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for brownnoser
Noun
-
What may be worse is that a gaggle of sycophants and groupthink team members underneath the Dark Empath—the direct reports—create a ruthless echo chamber for the king or queen at the top of Mt. Stupid.—
Dan Pontefract,
Forbes,
11 Mar. 2025 -
Of course, Veep’s sycophants, buffoons, and backstabbers bear little resemblance to the vanguard of our latest regime.—
Judy Berman,
TIME,
20 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
This won’t end well, especially in a no-guardrails administration staffed by a how-high team of enablers and toadies.—
Bret Stephens,
The Mercury News,
13 Mar. 2025
-
But a moment later, after he’s swatted down one of the two new toadies at Beck’s kitchen table for making a lewd remark about Annette, his senses seem newly awakened.—
Chris Klimek,
Vulture,
6 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
But the joke’s on us — Republican senators, who are the only players with any real power to stop them, have simply decided not to, all so that President Camacho can play at government with his favorite suck-ups.—
S.E. Cupp,
New York Daily News,
4 Feb. 2025
-
Sara Fischer, Dave Lawler Dec 23, 2024 - Politics & Policy Media's suck-up moment Fearing political retribution and strained by new business challenges, media companies that once covered President-elect Trump with skepticism — and in many cases, disdain — are reconsidering their approach.—
Sara Fischer,
Axios,
14 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
Republican lickspittles like Lindsey Graham and Jim Banks praised Trump and trashed Zelenskyy while Russian leaders rejoiced.—
Maureen Dowd,
The Mercury News,
4 Mar. 2025
-
Of course, being a junior senator and attaching your name to legislation that has little chance of being enacted—none of those have bills passed—is very different from being Vice-President and chief lickspittle to Trump.—
John Cassidy,
The New Yorker,
22 July 2024
Noun
-
Tatlin scholarship is whispery on his time in Kyiv, for the excellent reason that Stalin’s minions torched most evidence of it.—
Jackson Arn,
The New Yorker,
10 Mar. 2025
-
But the largest driving force behind the return-to-work mandates, suggest the early scholarship, is CEOs feeling lonely without minions.—
Dan Vergano,
Scientific American,
12 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
Football fans love the idea of the clean break, the fresh start, and the new era that is unlike anything that has come before.—
Jack Pitt-Brooke,
The Athletic,
22 Mar. 2025
-
Friend mourns fellow sports fan, avid journalist After working for several years as a reporter for various publications, his friend said, Sharkey started his own media venture with the help of his longtime friend Snapp.—
Kendrick Calfee,
Kansas City Star,
22 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
In Lynch’s festering neo-noir mystery from 1987, Hopper plays a chronic villain perpetually sipping from a tank of amyl nitrate and handing out hits as a way to manipulate his henchmen.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
14 Mar. 2025
-
Back in Montana, every trip Jacob and company take to Bozeman and back is inevitably fraught with peril — if not instigated by dastardly rich guy Donald Whitfield (Timothy Dalton) and/or his henchman Banner Creighton (Jerome Flynn), then by the pitiless nature of extreme weather.—
Matt Brennan,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
Banner tells Whitfield that he’s lost his sheep herd to parasites, and Whitfield has the nerve to laugh.—
Amanda Whiting,
Vulture,
2 Mar. 2025
-
Animals of all shapes, sizes, and evolutionary lineages engage in behaviors that ward off parasites, viruses, and harmful bacteria.—
Gabe Allen,
Discover Magazine,
20 Feb. 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Brownnoser.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/brownnoser. Accessed 25 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share