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

In a dismally unwise attempt to curry favor and get a lighter sentence, he gives the authorities the name of the perpetrator—making up the tale.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026

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

The highly-watched antitrust trial also comes as Zuckerberg and other tech executives try to curry favor with the Trump administration.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2025

Perhaps if she already had her ring they might try to curry favor in hopes of receiving immunity, but apparently as an apprentice she offered them nothing but the creeps.

From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman