adulation
[aj-uh-ley-shuh n]
- excessive devotion to someone; servile flattery.
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Origin of adulation
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for adulation
Contemporary Examples
Before NYC Prep, reality TV stars were sources of entertainment, but never objects of envy or adulation.
So here Obama is, craving security and adulation, but being denied both.
The audience was not yet done showering Simons with adulation.
Milan Fall Fashion Week 2012: Raf Simons’s Last Collection at Jil SanderRobin Givhan
February 25, 2012
Lafayette, more interested in his own nationwide tour of adulation, declined.
Washington Was Broke? Why Founding Fathers Were Strapped for CashWillard Sterne Randall
February 20, 2012
Apollo misses the adulation of believers, and wants to fill a new planet with humans who will worship him.
Historical Examples
But adulation, flunkeyism, concert, covered the spark with dirt and mud.
Diary from November 12, 1862, to October 18, 1863Adam Gurowski
Through all this adulation Franklin passed serenely, if not unconsciously.
The Age of InventionHolland Thompson
Never was a poor fellow in this world less suited to adulation of this sort.
BarringtonCharles James Lever
If you people will think back you'll realize you've all been raised on adulation of Germany.
The Forbidden TrailHonor Willsie
He had simply laughed off their adulation; but he was not laughing now.
Marion's Faith.Charles King
adulation
- obsequious flattery or praise; extreme admiration
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for adulation
n.
late 14c., "insincere praise," from Old French adulacion, from Latin adulationem (nominative adulatio) "a fawning; flattery, cringing courtesy," noun of action from past participle stem of aduliari "to flatter," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + ulos "tail," from PIE *ul- "the tail" (cf. Sanskrit valah "tail," Lithuanian valai "horsehair of the tail"). The original notion is "to wag the tail" like a fawning dog (cf. Greek sainein "to wag the tail," also "to flatter;" see also wheedle).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper