toady
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
have toadiedperfect
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has toadiedperfect 3rd person singular
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is toadyingprogressive 3rd person singular
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are toadyingprogressive
-
has been toadyingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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have been toadyingperfect progressive
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am toadyingprogressive 1st person singular
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toadyingparticiple
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toadiessingular 3rd person
Past
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had toadiedperfect
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was toadyingprogressive singular
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had been toadyingperfect progressive
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were toadyingprogressive plural
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toadiedparticiple
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toadiedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of toady
Explanation
You can call the kid who is always really nice to the teacher in hopes of getting a good grade a brown-noser or, if you want to sound clever, a toady. The word toady has a gross, yet engaging history. Back when medicine was more trickery than science, traveling medicine men would come to a town. Their assistant would eat a toad (you read that right) that was assumed poisonous so that the medicine man could "heal" him. Who would want that job, right? So toad-eater, later shortened to toady, came to mean a person who would do anything to please his boss.
Vocabulary lists containing toady
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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This Week In Words: March 29–April 4, 2020
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "T"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But what Raisi lacked in charisma, he more than made up for in subservience; the man, frankly, was a toady doing the supreme leader’s bidding.
From Seattle Times • May 24, 2024
But Alice’s complaints aren’t just about her million sitting in the bank and the toady outgrowths of fame.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 2, 2021
Cruella, meanwhile, is never truly pitted against anyone more honorable than a sneering toady.
From Slate • Jun. 1, 2021
We're supposed to find Lloyd pathetic, a toady.
From Salon • Aug. 1, 2011
On a cane throne sat an old toady lady.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
