groveling 1 of 2

adjective

variants or grovelling
Definition of grovelingnext
as in fawning

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

groveling

2 of 2

verb

variants or grovelling
present participle of grovel
1
as in flinching
to draw back or crouch down in fearful submission the way in which the abused dog would grovel whenever its owner came near

Synonyms & Similar Words
2
as in crawling
to move slowly with the body close to the ground because of their anatomy, bats can only grovel while moving along the ground

Synonyms & Similar Words

Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for groveling
  1. obsequious
  2. servile
  3. cowering
  4. crouching
  5. sycophantic
  6. slithering
  7. subservient
  8. worshipful
Adjective
  • What was criminal in the eyes of Putin and occasioned Navalny’s death was his work exposing the tyrant, his obsequious oligarchs and lickspittle party United Russia as crooks, thieves and killers.
    Bruce Fein, Baltimore Sun, 15 Nov. 2024
  • Sunny initially speaks in an obsequious ChatGPT-generic tone, but the robot gradually adopts Suzie’s speech patterns, softening Suzie’s initial skepticism.
    Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 20 Nov. 2024
Definition of obsequious
Adjective
  • His co-stars, like Will Ferrell’s savage Mugatu, Owen Wilson’s stoner hottie Hansel, and Nathan Lee Graham’s servile Todd — all so precise and well-defined in the original’s ravelike milieu — are doomed to retrace their old steps here.
    Sean Malin, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2024
  • These officials could, in turn, redistribute some of their private goods among their own servile lieutenants, but the monarch retained ultimate power to grant or revoke their privileged status.
    Serhiy Kudelia, Foreign Affairs, 27 Feb. 2014
Definition of servile
Verb
  • The staff member can be seen cowering down to fend off the attack and then turns and squares up to the irate passenger, who’s wearing a green colored top and army green pants.
    Michael Dorgan, Fox News, 29 Nov. 2024
  • The trauma of war is ever-present in Honda's vision, which sees citizens fleeing for their lives and cowering in the rubble of their homes.
    Katie Rife, EW.com, 18 Oct. 2024
Definition of cowering
Verb
  • This may include defensive movements or acting submissively—tucking their tail between their legs, lowering their eyes or crouching to appear smaller.
    Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 5 Dec. 2024
  • At last month’s hearing, prosecutors played surveillance footage from Mullins’ chambers that appeared to show the judge crouching behind his desk as a man identified as Stines shoots him multiple times.
    Dakin Andone, CNN, 25 Nov. 2024
Definition of crouching
Adjective
  • But traditional ideas about gender are proving stubborn in the virtual realm, starting with the AI assistants and their sycophantic feminine voices as well as those girls (French, tattooed, blonde) the app cooked up.
    Emily Watlington, ARTnews.com, 27 Nov. 2024
  • Its members' firm repudiation of the unqualified and clownish Matt Gaetz for attorney general shows that its members can still stiffen their sinews and summon up the courage to curb President-elect Donald Trump's appetite for surrounding himself with sycophantic boobs.
    Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 27 Nov. 2024
Definition of sycophantic
Verb
  • The border wall stretched out like a snake slithering up and down hills to the horizon.
    Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct. 2024
  • But a snake slithering across the top step of the dugout when your team is trailing by six runs in the fifth inning of a National League Championship Series game?
    Steve Henson, Los Angeles Times, 15 Oct. 2024
Definition of slithering
Adjective
  • This sci-fi film takes viewers to a near future where our main character Nick (Michele Morrone), a construction foreman struggling to manage his family while his wife Maggie (Madeline Zima) battles a serious illness, turns to a subservient robot named Alice (played by Fox) for help.
    Travis Bean, Forbes, 7 Dec. 2024
  • Male fantasies à la the movie Her abound, centered around a subservient love interest with no bodily or emotional needs of her own.
    Emily Watlington, ARTnews.com, 27 Nov. 2024
Definition of subservient
Adjective
  • Her chef and housekeeper, Bruna (Alba Rohrwacher), is timid and worshipful but able to take quietly decisive action when necessary.
    Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 25 Nov. 2024
  • In a country given to worshipful talk of Founding Fathers, this is not a new subject on the political stage.
    Molly Fischer, The New Yorker, 1 Oct. 2024
Definition of worshipful
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.

Thesaurus Entries Near groveling

grovelers

groveling

grovels

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Cite this Entry

“Groveling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/groveling. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.

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