Word of the Day

: December 4, 2006

adulate

verb AJ-uh-layt

What It Means

: to flatter or admire excessively or slavishly

adulate in Context

It bothered Joan that her nephews seemed to adulate sport stars more than their own parents or teachers.

Did You Know?

Man's best friend is often thought of in admiring terms as faithful and true, but there are also those people who more clearly perceive the fawning and cringing aspect of doggishness. When the Romans used the Latin verb "adulari" to mean "to fawn on," they equated it with the behavior of a dog toward its master. The actual root of the word may even be connected to a word for "tail" (which, of course, brings tail wagging to mind). In English, we first used the noun "adulation," meaning "exhibition of excessive fondness" (similar in meaning but not etymologically related to "adoration"), then the adjective "adulatory" (an adulatory speech, for example, is an excessively flattering one), before we came up with the verb in the 18th century.