1
as in to fuss
to use flattery or the doing of favors in order to win approval especially from a superior
a young lieutenant constantly sucking up to the commanding officer
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in flunkey
a person who flatters another in order to get ahead
I'd like to give my boss a birthday present, but I don't want to look like a shameless suck-up
Synonyms & Similar Words
Examples Sentences
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.
Recent Examples of suck (up)
Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 19 June 2023
Office suck-ups, popularized by television characters like Dwight Schrute in The Office and Tom Wambsgans in Succession, typically take their cues from those in charge.
—Matthew Boyle, Fortune, 26 Apr. 2023
Still, gossip mongers and suck-ups won’t go away unless managers remove the incentives to such behavior, while rewarding positive actions like collaboration.
—Matthew Boyle, Fortune, 26 Apr. 2023
As a shameless suck-up with a remarkable ability to fail upward, Tom is on track to conquer the world.
—Los Angeles Times Staff, Los Angeles Times, 24 Mar. 2023
Noun
Back in the dawn of the Trump era — just prior to his 2017 inauguration — the line of would-be suck-ups queuing up for face time with the president-elect included a man with a distinguished name.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 19 June 2023
Office suck-ups, popularized by television characters like Dwight Schrute in The Office and Tom Wambsgans in Succession, typically take their cues from those in charge.
—Matthew Boyle, Fortune, 26 Apr. 2023
Still, gossip mongers and suck-ups won’t go away unless managers remove the incentives to such behavior, while rewarding positive actions like collaboration.
—Matthew Boyle, Fortune, 26 Apr. 2023
As a shameless suck-up with a remarkable ability to fail upward, Tom is on track to conquer the world.
—Los Angeles Times Staff, Los Angeles Times, 24 Mar. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for suck (up)
Verb
-
While some parents are fine with sleep training methods that involve lengthy separations from their babies, and a fair amount of crying and fussing, for other parents, these methods just don’t feel right.1 That’s where gentle sleep training come into play.Wendy Wisner, Parents, 17 Sep. 2024
-
Somebody's done all the worrying and fussing for you!Joe Ray, WIRED, 31 Aug. 2024
Verb
-
Madrid: Bar And Restaurant Mecca This year’s glitzy gala was held in Madrid–a city famed for its exciting food and drink culture and superb nightlife–bringing bartenders, cocktail aficionados and drinks media in their thousands to the Spanish capital.Isabelle Kliger, Forbes, 4 Nov. 2024
-
Ten times as many people, meanwhile, reported drinking alcohol daily or almost daily.Marin Cogan, Vox, 4 Nov. 2024
Verb
-
When chytrid fungus colonizes the skin, electrolytes can’t get absorbed.Martin J. Kernan, Discover Magazine, 16 Nov. 2024
-
The four straightforward and thoughtfully built cubes not only absorbed all of our clothes and toiletries volume-wise, but were water resistant enough to keep wet bathing suits and stinky running socks.Joe Jackson, Outside Online, 14 Nov. 2024
Noun
-
But Trump has been less interested in ideology and more attracted to a politics of personal grievance, one that rewards sycophants and punishes critics.Brent Lang, Variety, 17 Oct. 2024
-
Other influencers, such as the Trump sycophant Laura Loomer, have urged their followers to disrupt the disaster agency’s efforts to help hurricane victims.Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 10 Oct. 2024
Verb
-
Common symptoms of a rapid squirrel include walking in circles, falling over, drooling, aggression, and seizures and muscle spasms, Critter Control reports.Greta Cross, USA TODAY, 4 Nov. 2024
-
And Terry's pitch-perfect execution had her followers drooling.Anna Lazarus Caplan, People.com, 30 Oct. 2024
Noun
-
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
-
Such as holding court, choosing your sobriquet, and naming imbecilic lickspittles to our Kingsguard.Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 7 July 2024
Verb
-
Also in attendance: an inner-child 14-year-old version of Trump himself, who both needles and kowtows to the booming, boorish (and offstage) voice of the adult iteration.Greg Evans, Deadline, 24 Sep. 2024
-
Rather than challenging that xenophobic ideology, many policy makers kowtow to it, helping to shift the political dial more to the right.Banseka Kayembe, refinery29.com, 9 Aug. 2024
Noun
-
Alfred Molina, Ving Rhames, Toby Jones, and Paul Walter Hauser all drop by to add their touches to an underworld majordomo, a dogged BPD Special Ops officer, a political toady and Boston’s single dumbest thug, respectively.David Fear, Rolling Stone, 1 Aug. 2024
-
Even meteorologists would face an uncertain future, given that Project 2025 also calls for replacing tens of thousands of federal workers with political toadies beholden only to the White House.Pat Beall, Orlando Sentinel, 28 July 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near suck (up)
Cite this Entry
“Suck (up).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/suck%20%28up%29. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share