sycophancy

[ sik-uh-fuh n-see, -fan-, sahy-kuh- ]

/ ˈsɪk ə fən si, -ˌfæn-, ˈsaɪ kə- /

self-seeking or servile flattery.

the character or conduct of a sycophant.

Nearby words

1615–25; < Latin sȳcophantia trickery < Greek sȳkophantía dishonest prosecution, equivalent to sȳkophant- (see sycophant) + -ia -y³; see -cy

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Alone among the servants he had no time for sycophancy or subservience.
Queen Victoria’s Secret Scottish Sex Castle|Clive Irving|August 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
To the young in spirit, the morning meal is but a tradition, followed with a certain amount of sycophancy.
Wanted: A Cook|Alan Dale
He knew that the malice was as shallow as the good will; and the alternatives were resentment, sycophancy, or a little subtlety.
Benjamin Franklin; Self-Revealed, Volume II (of 2)|Wiliam Cabell Bruce
It is a species of toadyism that is invariably omitted from textbooks on the sublime art of sycophancy.
Wanted: A Cook|Alan Dale

But their sycophancy was nothing compared with what the bishops and clergy of the Established Church generally evinced.
A Modern History, From the Time of Luther to the Fall of Napoleon|John Lord, A.M.
Phillimore himself makes some very severe strictures on the sycophancy and greed of the higher clergy.
The English Church in the Eighteenth Century|Charles J. Abbey and John H. Overton

1620s, from Latin sycophantia, from Greek sykophantia, from sykophantes (see sycophant).