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:
Rosenior admitted when he was hired that he needed to hit the ground running to silence the critics who claimed that he would be a yes-man for the Chelsea hierarchy.
From Barron's ● Jan. 25, 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 somebody asks for a drink, I’m a yes man, as we all should be behind the bar,” she says.
From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2024
“Raisi was a yes man, and his unimpressiveness was sort of the point,” said Arash Azizi, a historian who focuses on Iran and lectures at Clemson University in South Carolina.
From New York Times ● May 21, 2024
Many thought he would be a "yes" man, cowering in the shadow of his powerful boss.
From BBC ● Nov. 30, 2023
“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
Yes, yes, man, and there'll be bits o' furniture and things to get.
From Stories of the Foot-hills by Margaret Collier Graham
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
He prefers the illusion of power offered by genuflecting yes-men over the hard work involved in gaining real power and exercising it.
From Salon ● Mar. 13, 2024
The excerpt makes clear that Mr. Trump did not always get the yes-men that he wanted.
From New York Times ● Aug. 8, 2022
He has voiced his suspicion as to your sanity to Bondy and Mellish and you know what kind of yes-men those fellows are in the face of an authority like Scriven's.
From The Brain by Alexander Blade
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.
