curry favor

Cultural  

1. “Currying favor” with someone means trying to ingratiate oneself by fawning over that person: “The ambassador curried favor with the dictator by praising his construction projects.”

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curry favor Idioms  

1. Seek gain or advancement by fawning or flattery, as in Edith was famous for currying favor with her teachers. This expression originally came from the Old French estriller fauvel, “curry the fallow horse,” a beast that in a 14th-century allegory stood for duplicity and cunning. It came into English about 1400 as curry favel —that is, curry (groom with a currycomb) the animal—and in the 1500s became the present term.

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Example Sentences

President Trump has a reputation for trying to curry favor with investors.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 27, 2026

Both Paramount and Netflix sought to curry favor with the White House, with Paramount winning out.

From Barron's • Feb. 27, 2026

Foreign leaders have long used presidential visits to curry favor with the man in the Oval Office.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 26, 2025

Largely in lockstep about these matters, the candidates highlighted their political resumes and life stories to try to create contrasts and curry favor with attendees.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 4, 2025

Riders would be after them within the day, birds would take wing, and surely one of the river lords would want to curry favor with his father enough to take a hand.

From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin