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.

“It felt a little bit like he was buttering us up,” Brockman testified.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 16, 2026

I was buttering sandwiches for their lunches when my surgeon called to tell me it looked as though it had spread to my liver.

From New York Times • Sep. 2, 2015

Insiders understood that Wisconsin Progressive Lawyer Joseph Padway was buttering up their president, assumed that he hoped to displace shrewd, moderate Charlton Ogburn as general counsel to the Federation.

From Time Magazine Archive

At the same time that Latin America Specialist Jules Dubois was buttering up Cuba's Fidel Castro on Page One, the editorial page, with far better judgment, was castigating Fidel.

From Time Magazine Archive

“Come on. A guy like Adam going to a Yo-Yo Ma concert? He was buttering you up.”

From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman