fawning
Americanadjective
noun
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.
Vocabulary lists containing fawning
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Of Mice and Men
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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.
It is an unusually nuanced take on a subject that too often generates reflexive fulminating or fawning, and a truly auspicious start to the New Museum’s new chapter.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026
On Comedy Central, Stewart took a similar satirical approach, becoming a fawning and "patriotically obediant host" of an "all-new government approved Daily Show".
From BBC • Sep. 19, 2025
The first hour-and-forty-five minutes should have just featured the effusive fawning praise from Cabinet members and self-congratulations parading as insight from Donny.
From Salon • Aug. 29, 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
“Veturius,” Faris grunts at me, and I’m relieved that he doesn’t treat me with the same fawning awe as everyone else.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
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.
