brown-nose
verb (used without object)
to curry favor; behave obsequiously.
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brown nosenounvet science a form of light sensitization in cattle
brown-nose
American
[broun-nohz]
/ ˈbraʊnˌnoʊz /
verb (used without object)
brown-nosed,
brown-nosing
verb (used with object)
brown-nosed,
brown-nosing
noun
brown-nose
1
British
verb
noun
brown nose
2
British
noun
brown nose
Idioms
Etymology
Origin of brown-nose
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.
See Examples For:
I don’t want to brown-nose, I just feel like I’ve proven myself as a nominee and now they see me for who I am.
From New York Times ● Feb. 16, 2022
We’ve still got lovable Arkady - the underdog and rare example of a police investigator who refuses to brown-nose his superiors.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 4, 2019
“Those that, I guess you might say, brown-nose are the ones that are going to end up receiving the merit pay.”
From Washington Times ● Jan. 14, 2016
I decided to make a deliberate effort to brown-nose him for the next week.
From Time ● Sep. 8, 2011
Jane Hamsher described him as tough guy wannabe but really “a brown nose for power ready to rumble on behalf of the status quo.”
From Salon ● Mar. 24, 2016
You get promoted if you brown nose your way.
From BusinessWeek ● Nov. 15, 2011
His flat brown nose, wide-set black eyes and triangular ebony brows had appeared in few published photos.
From Time Magazine Archive
Challedon went into the lead; halfway down the backstretch Kayak caught him, poked his brown nose farther & farther ahead as they streaked along against a backdrop of autumn foliage.
From Time Magazine Archive
In a few moments he was so engrossed that he did not hear the almost noiseless motion of a canoe as it thrust its brown nose into the blue wedge before him.
From The Homesteaders A Novel of the Canadian West by Stead, Robert J. C.
"It is appropriate that such a monster as this should have lived on a great continent like North America," brown-nosed Sir Archibald Geikie, a geologist and fellow of the Royal Society.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 4, 2013
"It's just an honour to have my name up there with all the big champions like Wiggins," Porte brown-nosed afterwards.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 12, 2013
"Obviously the manager is extremely disciplined but the manager is also cool and he's got good banter," brown-nosed Defoe, barely even convincing himself, never mind anyone else.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 18, 2010
For those who think Watson suffered, stop with the celebrity brown-nosing, please.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 1, 2022
OK, now we’re heading into potential brown-nosing territory.
From Golf Digest ● Feb. 11, 2020
"Mozart in the Jungle" also depicts some of the more prosaic aspects of orchestral life — chronic financial difficulties, intractable union negotiations and the obligatory brown-nosing of wealthy patrons.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 23, 2014
Seth Stevenson: He did get disproportionate blowback from his brown-nosing.
From Slate ● Apr. 8, 2013
Some land of turning point arose the day a couple of kids wandered into the room, took in the scene and asked Jesse and the others if they were brown-nosing, scoring points.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
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.
