adulate

American  

[aj-uh-layt] / ˈædʒ əˌleɪt /

verb (used with object)

• adulates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• adulated,
  past participle,  past
• adulating
  present participle

1. to show excessive admiration or devotion to; flatter or admire servilely.

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adulate British  

/ ˈædjʊˌleɪt /

verb

1. (tr) to flatter or praise obsequiously

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• adulation
  noun
• adulator
  noun

Inflected Forms

Participles

• adulating
  present
• adulated
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• adulate
  simple
• adulates
  simple
• have adulated
  perfect
• has adulated
  perfect
• am adulating
  progressive
• are adulating
  progressive
• is adulating
  progressive
• have been adulating
  perfect progressive
• has been adulating
  perfect progressive

Past

• adulated
  simple
• had adulated
  perfect
• was adulating
  progressive
• were adulating
  progressive
• had been adulating
  perfect progressive

Future

• will adulate
  simple
• will have adulated
  perfect
• will be adulating
  progressive
• will have been adulating
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of adulate

First recorded in 1770–80; back formation from adulation

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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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

adulate adulates adulated adulating

They use poetic, romantic language to adulate this criterion lota and refuse to use any other instrument, similar to seniors who reject CDs and insist that “everything sounds better on vinyl.”

From Salon ● Jul. 10, 2012

There must be villains and heroes, nations to hate or to adulate.

From Time Magazine Archive

Is the planet so emaciated in human leadership--the Mother Teresas and Geraldine Ferraros--that we have to adulate the American dollar?

From Time Magazine Archive

Lady Feng was well alive to the fact that Madame Hsing was, by nature, simple and weak-minded, and that all she knew was to adulate Chia She so as to ensure her own safety.

From Hung Lou Meng, Book II Or, the Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Novel in Two Books by H. Bencraft Joly

Great heavens, what is there to adulate in me?

From The Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan by Sir W. S. (William Schwenck) Gilbert

He adulates Minke, whom he has betrayed, and in House of Glass, the last novel, the author's torment of this official hypocrite is lashing and relentless.

From Time Magazine Archive

And to think that the nineteenth century takes on airs and adulates itself.

From Là-bas by Keene Wallace

In the fourteenth century the Pope is already called 'dominus deus noster'—precisely the style in which Martial adulates Domitian.

From Outspoken Essays by William Ralph Inge

Is it any wonder how the poor man adulates wealth, when those in high station—the great and titled of the earth—are so ready to worship and revere it!

From Confessions Of Con Cregan An Irish Gil Blas by Charles James Lever

Mr Tomkinson said he missed the now adulated head coach after Wolves' game against Ipswich, so he was excited when his door staff told him on Sunday "the big man is coming".

From BBC ● Apr. 14, 2025

“It’s a difficult moment for the monarchy because it’s going through this period of transition from being adulated as a default position to now being questioned and challenged in new ways,’’ Owens said.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 13, 2023

“He seizes his chance, works like crazy, and takes power, making himself anointed and adulated by this incredible circle of French bosses and intellectuals,” Gaspard Gantzer, a former classmate of Macron’s, has written.

From The New Yorker ● Jun. 24, 2019

Moreover, in real life, people who possess technological knowledge, primarily the scions of Silicon Valley, are widely adulated, viewed as heroes who will inherently change society for the better.

From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2019

Critics of the 18th century adulated the Bolognese beyond all reason or toleration; he is now regarded as commonplace in mind and invention, lacking any innate ideality, though undoubtedly a forcible, resolute and learned executant.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 6 "Dodwell" to "Drama" by Various

The behaviour towards the European team during this week's practice rounds, held in a family-friendly atmosphere, has been largely respectful and adulating.

From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2025

“Everything Cohen says about adulating, and then despising Trump, is bolstered and corroborated by massive other evidence.”

From Salon ● May 16, 2024

As master archer and adulating sidekick Kate Bishop, the lively Steinfeld crafts a performance of sharp contrasts opposite Jeremy Renner’s more serious-minded hero, Hawkeye/Clint Barton.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 30, 2021

This six-episode series is Steinfeld’s MCU origin story, and although she plays the adulating sidekick, she will probably see her status rise — and could potentially even take on the Hawkeye title herself.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 24, 2021

Their roads, truly—one adulating Trajan in Versailles, and growing great by "Farces of the Fair;" the other battling for his existence against men and devils, Trajan and Company included—have lain far apart.

From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 16 by Thomas Carlyle

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