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sycophant

noun
sy·​co·​phant | \ ˈsi-kə-fənt also ˈsÄ«- & -ˌfant How to pronounce sycophant (audio) \

Definition of sycophant

: a servile self-seeking flatterer
Other Words from sycophant Synonyms Choose the Right Synonym Did You Know? Example Sentences Learn More about sycophant

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Other Words from sycophant

sycophant adjective

Choose the Right Synonym for sycophant

parasite, sycophant, toady, leech, sponge mean a usually obsequious flatterer or self-seeker. parasite applies to one who clings to a person of wealth, power, or influence or is useless to society. a jet-setter with an entourage of parasites sycophant adds to this a strong suggestion of fawning, flattery, or adulation. a powerful prince surrounded by sycophants toady emphasizes the servility and snobbery of the self-seeker. cultivated leaders of society and became their toady leech stresses persistence in clinging to or bleeding another for one's own advantage. a leech living off his family and friends sponge stresses the parasitic laziness, dependence, and opportunism of the cadger. a shiftless sponge, always looking for a handout

Did You Know?

In ancient Greece, sykophantēs meant "slanderer." It derives from two other Greek words, sykon (meaning "fig") and phainein (meaning "to show or reveal"). How did fig revealers become slanderers? One theory has to do with the taxes Greek farmers were required to pay on the figs they brought to market. Apparently, the farmers would sometimes try to avoid making the payments, but squealers—fig revealers—would fink on them, and they would be forced to pay. Another possible source is a sense of the word fig meaning "a gesture or sign of contempt" (as thrusting a thumb between two fingers). In any case, Latin retained the "slanderer" sense when it borrowed a version of sykophantēs, but by the time English speakers in the 16th century borrowed it as sycophant, the squealers had become flatterers.

Examples of sycophant in a Sentence

His press conference on January 11 was all aimed toward a single moment. The President was at his rostrum at the ÉlysĂ©e, with a crowd of courtiers, journalists, and sycophants herded behind a velvet rope. One reporter was allowed across the rope to put the same question, in exactly the same words, as he had put when Chirac had been nearing the end of his first term: Would he perhaps consider standing for a further five years? — Julian Barnes, New York Review, 29 Mar. 2007 And swirling all around were coteries of agents, managers, execs, and moneymen; publicists and journalists, gawkers and sycophants. — Daniel Fierman et al., Entertainment Weekly, 9 June 2006 Where his father liked to have sycophants, he likes to be with intellectuals. He likes confrontation. — Franklin Foer, New Republic, 14 Jan. 2002 when her career was riding high, the self-deluded actress often mistook sycophants for true friends
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Recent Examples on the Web

 Both inherited a family business and are surrounded by sycophants. — Los Angeles Times, "Review: ‘The Great Successor’ paints a macabre portrait of Kim Jong Un," 24 Aug. 2019 Mussolini and Hitler slipped their countries into fascism and Nazism with the consent and willingness of their many sycophants and supporters. — Letters To The Editor, The Mercury News, "Letter: US at greater risk of becoming a fascist state than socialist," 20 Aug. 2019 Instead, kleptocrats and incompetents are replaced by sycophants and functionaries — the latter, ironically, even more capable of dismantling effective governance. — Jacob S. Hacker, Washington Post, "The missteps and misdeeds of Trump’s Cabinet," 1 Aug. 2019 But for those who became sycophants to a racist golfer for personal gain, there can be no going back. — Matt Ford, The New Republic, "The Banality of Lindsey Graham," 22 July 2019 Obviously, plenty of Americans — gulled by the sycophants at Fox News — believe the president’s lies, about immigrants and everything else. — Yvonne Abraham, BostonGlobe.com, "‘It’s no surprise, because Donald Trump hates us’: At a Chelsea church, congregants say they’re scared," 7 Aug. 2019 In Galaxy’s Edge terms, Amash was being characterized as siding with the wrong side, i.e. Kylo Ren and his Nazi-like sycophants, members of the First Order. — Lorraine Ali, latimes.com, "From ‘Aladdin’ to Galaxy’s Edge, how Hollywood interprets Arab culture," 14 June 2019 The golf establishment tends to remember Roberts as a sour figure, a charmless tyrant, and a canny sycophant—the bad cop to the faultless Bobby Jones. — Nick Paumgarten, The New Yorker, "Inside the Cultish Dreamworld of Augusta National," 14 June 2019 These sycophants, along with the anti-Maduro chavistas, are now worried. — Mary Anastasia O’grady, WSJ, "Power and Money in Venezuela," 10 Feb. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'sycophant.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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First Known Use of sycophant

1575, in the meaning defined above

History and Etymology for sycophant

borrowed from Latin sÈłcophanta, borrowed from Greek sÈłkophĂĄntēs, literally, "one who shows the fig," from sĆ·kon "fig" (perhaps in reference to an apotropaic gesture made by inserting the thumb between the index and second fingers) + -phantēs, agentive derivative of phaĂ­nein "to reveal, show, make known"; perhaps from the use of such a gesture in denouncing a culprit — more at fig entry 1, fancy entry 1

Note: The origin of Greek sÈłkophĂĄntēs, applied in ancient Athens to private individuals who brought prosecutions in which they had no personal stake, was already under debate by ancient writers. The "apotropaic gesture" hypothesis given here was presented early on by Arthur Bernard Cook ("C΄ΚΟΊΑΝ΀ΗC," The Classical Review, vol. 31 [1907], pp. 133-36); Cook also usefully summarizes ancient speculation (as the idea that the original sÈłkophĂĄntēs denounced those who illegally exported figs from Attica). The objection has been made that the basic notion "one who makes the fig gesture" does not account for the extremely negative connotations of the word ("slanderer, calumniator, etc."), but other explanations (as, for example, that a sÈłkophĂĄntēs revealed figs hidden in a malefactor's clothing, or initiated a prosecution for something of as little value as a fig) seem even less likely. A more nuanced, if not entirely convincing account, based on presumed fig metaphors in Athenian culture, is in Danielle Allen, The World of Prometheus: The Politics of Punishing in Democratic Athens (Princeton University Press, 2000), p. 156 passim.

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More Definitions for sycophant

sycophant

noun
How to pronounce sycophant (audio)

English Language Learners Definition of sycophant

formal + disapproving : a person who praises powerful people in order to get their approval

See the full definition for sycophant in the English Language Learners Dictionary

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More from Merriam-Webster on sycophant

Rhyming Dictionary: Words that rhyme with sycophant

Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for sycophant

Spanish Central: Translation of sycophant

Nglish: Translation of sycophant for Spanish Speakers

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