fawning

American  

[faw-ning] / ˈfɔ nɪŋ /

adjective

1. seeking favor by flattery or a servile way of behaving.

   The billionaire’s donation earned him a fawning front-page news story in the Globe and Mail.

   This detailed and favorable book review is not a fawning endorsement, as the reviewer takes the author to task on several points.

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noun

1. the act or practice of seeking favor by flattery or a servile way of behaving.

   On the second-last night of the cruise, we witnessed the fawning of the ship’s wait staff as they jockeyed for a healthy tip.

Other Word Forms

• fawningly adverb
• fawningness noun

Etymology

Origin of fawning

First recorded in 1325–75; fawn ² + -ing ² ( def. ) for the adjective; fawn ² + -ing ¹ ( def. ) for the noun

Explanation

Use fawning to describe someone who's over the top in the flattery department. Like a fawning admirer who just won't stop complimenting your looks, showering you with gifts and otherwise kissing the ground you walk on. From the Old English fægnian, meaning “rejoice, exult, be glad,” fawning can be both an adjective and a noun form of the verb fawn. Fawning people are often trying to win favor with the person being flattered, and it sometimes comes off as sucking up. So do everyone a favor and don't try to boost your poor grades by fawning over your professor’s every word.

Example Sentences

The correspondence shows Karp, a consigliere to NFL owners and the head of Citigroup, thanking Epstein with fawning emails for having him to one of his dinner parties.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 6, 2026

The culprits were Gen-Zers fawning over how cute cozy Snoopy was, often on social media.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 23, 2025

Is it a parable about the dangers posed by artificial intelligence and the fawning tendencies of large language models?

From Salon • Nov. 26, 2025

Saint-Simon knew that when kings embrace their own flattery, they open themselves to manipulation, and the writer viewed Louis XIV as an illusory absolutist who was in fact controlled by fawning scoundrels.

From Slate • May 30, 2025

Because German actors, actresses, producers, and directors were now all beholden to him for their careers, they began to flock around Goebbels, fawning over him and soliciting his favor.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

Related Words

• flattering