toady
Americannoun
-
toadies
plural
verb (used with object)
-
toadies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
toadied,
past participle, past
-
toadying
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
toadies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
toadied,
past participle, past
-
toadying
present participle
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
toadysimple
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toadiessimple
-
have toadiedperfect
-
has toadiedperfect
-
am toadyingprogressive
-
are toadyingprogressive
-
is toadyingprogressive
-
have been toadyingperfect progressive
-
has been toadyingperfect progressive
Past
-
toadiedsimple
-
had toadiedperfect
-
was toadyingprogressive
-
were toadyingprogressive
-
had been toadyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of toady
Explanation
You can call the kid who is always really nice to the teacher in hopes of getting a good grade a brown-noser or, if you want to sound clever, a toady. The word toady has a gross, yet engaging history. Back when medicine was more trickery than science, traveling medicine men would come to a town. Their assistant would eat a toad (you read that right) that was assumed poisonous so that the medicine man could "heal" him. Who would want that job, right? So toad-eater, later shortened to toady, came to mean a person who would do anything to please his boss.
Vocabulary lists containing toady
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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This Week In Words: March 29–April 4, 2020
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "T"
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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.
See Examples For:
But what Raisi lacked in charisma, he more than made up for in subservience; the man, frankly, was a toady doing the supreme leader’s bidding.
From Seattle Times ● May 24, 2024
But Alice’s complaints aren’t just about her million sitting in the bank and the toady outgrowths of fame.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2021
To a long list of professional milestones, Barr is adding toady, minion and yes man.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 30, 2019
Unless you are a slavish toady, such personalities will eventually see you as an enemy.
From Salon ● Nov. 18, 2019
If he had to play toady, he would own the part today.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
The heads of those places have been fired or have stepped down, sometimes replaced by crypto industry toadies.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2025
So how will the "usual suspects", the "softies", the "newbies" and the "toadies" shake down?
From BBC ● Mar. 15, 2025
But for his toadies, the stance is awkward, to say the least.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2024
Hunter’s generosity as a performer — listening intently, never grandstanding — spills over into her interpretation, giving us a Timon who chooses to think the best of her toadies.
From New York Times ● Jan. 19, 2020
She goes for every new girl, and toadies till she's got all she can, or grows tired of it.
From The Jolliest Term on Record A Story of School Life by Angela Brazil
He toadied to his superiors, fought with his peers, and would never give credit to his juniors when he could claim it for himself.
From Time Magazine Archive
Edouard gave Edouard a leg up into the Chamber of Deputies in 1919, and fora time Edouard toadied to Edouard in return.
From Time Magazine Archive
To keep Uganda economically afloat, Amin has toadied to oil-rich Arab states in return for financial aid; this could explain his fanatical anti-Israeli policy.
From Time Magazine Archive
This was another expression of his constant teaching that slaves, those who toadied to power, and men without self-respect made possible and fostered tyranny, abuses and disregard of the rights of others.
From Lineage, Life and Labors of José Rizal, Philippine Patriot by James Alexander Robertson
Gainsborough was never a tuft-hunter: he toadied to no man, and his swinging independence refused to see any special difference between himself and the sleek, titled nobility.
From Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 06 Little Journeys to the Homes of Eminent Artists by Elbert Hubbard
And Abby Quinn is excellent as Natalie, mom’s campaign manager and toadying child.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
Benchley shared screenwriting credit with Carl Gottlieb, who also plays the toadying publisher of the Amity newspaper.
From New York Times ● Jul. 1, 2020
More than social class, however, St. John’s has long symbolized a kind of old-Washington civility that represents either dignity or toadying, depending on your view.
From Slate ● Jun. 6, 2020
Goodell’s toadying may gratify individual owners, but it has undermined their collective trust.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 24, 2016
Kazik, why the devil are you toadying up to the boss and spoiling other people's chances?
From More Tales by Polish Authors by Various
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.
