yes-man
noun
a person who, regardless of actual attitude, always expresses agreement with their supervisor, superior, etc.; sycophant.
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yes-man
American
[yes-man]
/ ˈjɛsˌmæn /
noun
-
yes-men
plural
yes man
British
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of yes-man
First recorded in 1910–15
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:
Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial, expects Warsh is unlikely to "act as a yes-man" for the president.
From Barron's ● Jan. 30, 2026
It appeared that Lurie and Roseman chose a yes-man coach and a placeholder quarterback in preparation for a long, dreary rebuilding cycle.
From New York Times ● Dec. 29, 2021
As Screech, Diamond embodied the ultimate yes-man sidekick who executed preppy Zack Morris’ most harebrained ideas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 1, 2021
Neither is the casual crassness of his yes-man sidekick, despite all the quirky cornball gestures Stephen Russell Murray works in.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 28, 2016
How many times had I gone there to be his sidekick and his yes-man, to tell him what he wanted to hear?
From "Schooled" by Gordon Korman
"If I was a yes man, I would have been gone long ago. We have just got that honesty in the relationship between us that we can be blunt and straight-talking when needed."
From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2024
“You can’t be a yes man to yourself,” he said, “or you’re never going to get better.”
From Washington Times ● Aug. 24, 2023
"This is what happens when you have a 93-year-old man running a company, and everybody's just a yes man to him," Scarborough said, according to Mediaite.
From Salon ● Apr. 19, 2023
This is a guy that will be the ultimate yes man to the front office and LeBron James.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2022
Yes, yes, man, and there'll be bits o' furniture and things to get.
From Stories of the Foot-hills by Margaret Collier Graham
To them, it feels like yes-men have been replaced by skeptical employees who are more likely to shred them on Reddit or Glassdoor than to brown-nose.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026
A crib of yes-men limits how big he can grow.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2025
Alice Perkins, who chaired the Post Office at the time and faced a second day of questioning by lawyers on Thursday, denied that Ms Vennells had surrounded herself with "yes-men and yes-women".
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2024
They're surrounded by yes-men and rarely have to encounter countervailing evidence to their prejudices.
From Salon ● Apr. 10, 2024
Winstein didn't want yes-men around him; he wanted men who could and would think.
From By Proxy by H. R. van Dongen
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
