as in to fuss
to use flattery or the doing of favors in order to win approval especially from a superior
you can try kowtowing to the boss, but he'll see right through you
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of kowtow
The Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has had to weather the defections of prominent staffers after the outlet has appeared to kowtow to Trump.
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Brian Steinberg, Variety, 28 Jan. 2025
Where the last regime kowtowed to Rodgers’ every whim, Glenn and Mougey are leaving it up to interpretation.
—Zack Rosenblatt, The Athletic, 28 Jan. 2025
People worried about how Silicon Valley tycoons are kowtowing to Trump need not look far for an example of what conservative control of a platform might look like.
—Rebecca Jennings, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018
Franklin Graham, son of Billy—one of those classic, homegrown examples of slight decline from one American generation to the next; his dad could sometimes be a bigot, but at least the man could preach—kowtowed to Trump, directing his prayer more to the man than to God.
—Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 20 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for kowtow
Brian Steinberg, Variety, 28 Jan. 2025
Where the last regime kowtowed to Rodgers’ every whim, Glenn and Mougey are leaving it up to interpretation.
—Zack Rosenblatt, The Athletic, 28 Jan. 2025
People worried about how Silicon Valley tycoons are kowtowing to Trump need not look far for an example of what conservative control of a platform might look like.
—Rebecca Jennings, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018
Franklin Graham, son of Billy—one of those classic, homegrown examples of slight decline from one American generation to the next; his dad could sometimes be a bigot, but at least the man could preach—kowtowed to Trump, directing his prayer more to the man than to God.
—Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 20 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for kowtow
Recent Examples of Synonyms for kowtow
Verb
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On top of this, her mother and sister are fussing about her future relationship status, which leads to them plotting some dates for her.—
Tommy Tuberville,
Newsweek,
7 Mar. 2025
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The world saw this five-man group as an ideal of friendship, a community working and living together, fussing and fighting but making rough beauty out of it.—
Rob Sheffield,
Rolling Stone,
21 Jan. 2025
Verb
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Hamlet’s toadying friends, the hangers-on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, are Izzard’s own talking hands, popping up to face her like a pair of Muppets.—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
11 Feb. 2024
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This is the aspect of his production that made his reputation but is sometimes denigrated as superficial and toadying.—
Sebastian Smee,
Washington Post,
20 Nov. 2023
Verb
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There’s a reason scouts once drooled over Williams’ potential.—
C.J. Holmes,
New York Daily News,
8 Mar. 2025
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Symptoms from scorpion stings — such as burning at the sting site, drooling.—
Rick Sobey,
Boston Herald,
3 Mar. 2025
Verb
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Unless Trump’s art of the deal is all about truckling to Putin.—
Maureen Dowd,
The Mercury News,
4 Mar. 2025
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Garbarino enjoyed his time with the Southern river rats and mountain folk, and their refusal to truckle to authority delights him to this day.—
David Samuels,
Town & Country,
18 Oct. 2013
Verb
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Details of the encounter are scant — laid out in a narrative that runs less than two pages in an affidavit for an arrest warrant that Escondido police submitted last month.—
Teri Figueroa,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
15 Mar. 2025
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State insurance regulators require companies to submit financial reports regularly, which include details about assets, liabilities, and claims reserves.—
True Tamplin,
Forbes,
15 Mar. 2025
Verb
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The biggest of them all, Joe Rogan, spent the final weeks of the campaign giving many hours of fawning airtime to Trump—and to his running mate, J. D. Vance, and his key allies, such as Elon Musk—before endorsing Trump on the eve of the election.—
Andrew Marantz,
The New Yorker,
17 Mar. 2025
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The mind-boggling design for the measuring spoon first wowed the Internet in 2016 after a video promoting the Kickstarter campaign went viral and spawned widespread media coverage fawning over the unique design.—
Ars Technica,
Ars Technica,
14 Mar. 2025
Articles Related to kowtow
Cite this Entry
“Kowtow.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/kowtow. Accessed 25 Mar. 2025.
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