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• flattery
  flattery

  noun

  the act of flattering.
• Flattery
  Flattery

  noun

  Cape, a cape in NW Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula, at the entrance to Juan de Fuca Strait.

flattery

¹ American  

[flat-uh-ree] / ˈflæt ə ri /

noun

• flatteries
  plural

1. the act of flattering.

2. a flattering compliment or speech; excessive, insincere praise.

   Synonyms:

   pandering, sycophancy

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Flattery ² American  

[flat-ree] / ˈflæt ri /

noun

1. Cape, a cape in NW Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula, at the entrance to Juan de Fuca Strait.

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flattery British  

/ ˈflætərɪ /

noun

1. the act of flattering

2. excessive or insincere praise

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• flatteries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of flattery

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English flaterie, from Middle French, equivalent to flat(er) “to flatter” + -erie noun suffix; see flatter ¹, -ery

Explanation

Flattery is excessive praise. If you're hoping to borrow your brother's car, be careful not to overdo it when you compliment his haircut, new shoes, and singing voice — he knows flattery when he sees it. As opposed to real praise, flattery is insincere and almost always has an ulterior motive. The Old English root word of flatter is flater, which originally meant "to stroke with the hand or caress." When you stroke someone's ego to get what you want, you're using flattery. If the person you are wildly complimenting tells you that flattery will get you nowhere, you know it's time to back off.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

flattery Flattery flatteries

“I’m not swayed by flattery, just as I’m not affected by insults. ... I’ve faced the most attacks in my own country, not abroad,” Barton confessed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026

He’s similarly susceptible to the flattery of celebrities.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026

Graham was, rhetorically, almost pathetically in Trump’s thrall, heaping flattery onto a president who’d once posted Graham’s phone number online for mass harassment.

From Slate ● Jul. 14, 2026

And this is a problem, given that large-language models might, at this point, be best known for being sycophantic flattery machines.

From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2026

For a little while Emma persevered in her silence; but beginning to apprehend the bewitching flattery of that letter might be too powerful, she thought it best to say,

From "Emma" by Jane Austen

Flattery in state media underscored the dictator’s need to establish cult-of-personality supremacy as a smokescreen for his nation’s woes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 13, 2026

In the meantime, Ms Flattery had called him to see where he was and ended up speaking to Ms Murphy who tried to reassure her and ask about his medical history.

From BBC ● Dec. 23, 2023

Flattery from a president, though I wouldn’t know, is likely addictive.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 27, 2021

But an even greater personal favorite, to this writer, is the nearby short trek along the rugged, rocky northern coastline to Cape Flattery.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 27, 2021

We make it to the trailhead at Cape Flattery.

From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day

But I learned as little about Herman from these flatteries as I did from Einhorn’s gushing cliches.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 11, 2021

This was such a proportion of sense and shrewdness as sudden wealth and its destructive flatteries had no power to assail.

From Nevermore by Rolf Bolderwood

From their childhood they have been exposed to flatteries that should have spoiled them utterly; both have proved unspoilable.

From Thirty Years in Australia by Ada Cambridge

Thereupon several young men approached her and favored her with an assortment of the insipid, commonplace flatteries of which such a prodigious supply is ordinarily consumed in fashionable salons.

From San-Cravate; or, The Messengers; Little Streams by Charles Paul de Kock

The despicable figure which the king made at this period, and the fulsome flatteries bestowed upon him by the Irish people, did not escape the keen penetration of the illustrious and patriotic Lord Byron.

From Secret History of the Court of England, from the Accession of George the Third to the Death of George the Fourth, Volume II (of 2) Including, Among Other Important Matters, Full Particulars of the Mysterious Death of the Princess Charlotte by Lady Anne Hamilton