adulation

[aj-uh-ley-shuh n]

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noun

excessive devotion to someone; servile flattery.

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Origin of adulation

Middle English < Middle French < Latin adūlātiōn- (stem of adūlātiō) servile flattery, fawning, equivalent to adūlāt(us), past participle of adūlārī, -āre to fawn upon (of dogs), apparently a nominal derivative, with ad- ad-, of an otherwise unattested base + -iōn- -ion

Related forms

ad·u·la·to·ry

[aj-uh-luh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] /ˈædʒ ə ləˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i/, adjectiveself-ad·u·la·tion, nounself-ad·u·la·to·ry, adjectiveun·ad·u·lat·ing, adjective

un·ad·u·la·to·ry, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for adulation

Before NYC Prep, reality TV stars were sources of entertainment, but never objects of envy or adulation.
The Surreal Genius of Bravo’s Rich Kids Docudrama ‘NYC Prep’|Amy Zimmerman|April 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
So here Obama is, craving security and adulation, but being denied both.
The Sprawling, Dimming Age of Obama|Lloyd Green|June 30, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The audience was not yet done showering Simons with adulation.
Milan Fall Fashion Week 2012: Raf Simons’s Last Collection at Jil Sander|Robin Givhan|February 25, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Lafayette, more interested in his own nationwide tour of adulation, declined.
Washington Was Broke? Why Founding Fathers Were Strapped for Cash|Willard Sterne Randall|February 20, 2012|DAILY BEAST

Apollo misses the adulation of believers, and wants to fill a new planet with humans who will worship him.
Stalking the Literary Lion|Liesl Schillinger|March 20, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Indeed, such was their adulation, that they bore him about in a sort of triumphal car, and he became the peoples idol.
The Yule Log.|Anonymous
And how different everything was now in these days of affluence and adulation!
What's-His-Name|George Barr McCutcheon
He grew to manhood amid the adulation and flatteries of the greatest men and the fairest of women.
Love affairs of the Courts of Europe|Thornton Hall
Even Statius, whose writings are in other respects irreproachable, is nearly as fulsome in his adulation.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 17, Slice 7|Various
The adulation and the praise that came to her were ashes instead of fire.
The Dual Alliance|Marjorie Benton Cooke

British Dictionary definitions for adulation

adulation

noun

obsequious flattery or praise; extreme admiration

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

adulation

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).

adulation

noun

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Origin of adulation

Examples from the Web for adulation

adulation

noun

adulation