adulate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of adulate
First recorded in 1770–80; back formation from adulation
Explanation
To adulate is to flatter someone. A lot. Like, drop-on-your-knees-and-clasp-your-hands-and-say-"you-are-the-greatest-ever-to-walk-the-earth" a lot. The most interesting syllable in adulate is the ul-, which comes from ulos, a Latin word meaning "tail." The idea is that if you're heaping flattery on someone, you might as well be a dog wagging its tail, panting for a treat. Not that there's anything wrong with a little flattery. Or dogs.
Vocabulary lists containing adulate
Lesson 1
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Bleak House
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The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School
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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.
Their praise were her dispraise; who dare, who dare, Adulate the seraphim for their burning hair?
From Poems by Thompson, Francis
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.
