as in to curry favor
to use flattery or the doing of favors in order to win approval especially from a superior
a departmental supervisor who apple-polishes shamelessly whenever higher-ups are about
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for apple-polish
Verb
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Williams never fussed about it, though and his relationships with many in the organization weren’t overly affected.—
Roderick Boone,
Charlotte Observer,
14 Apr. 2025 -
No crying or fussing or squirming.—
Danielle Pergament,
SELF,
10 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Fair to say that the Ichiban has already accomplished its primary objective of getting moto nerds to drool over it on their phone screens – even though there is little likelihood that it will be built as it is envisioned.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
14 Feb. 2025
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Pay attention for signs of distress: panting, drooling, a high heart rate, dry nose, lethargy, or even vomiting, staggering or seizures.—
Kate Bradshaw,
The Mercury News,
3 Mar. 2025
Verb
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Posey will be given a lot of rope, befitting a franchise icon who received almost nothing but fawning praise from the media and fan base since exploding onto the scene.—
Jerry McDonald,
Mercury News,
3 Apr. 2025
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Eve’s sis Maggie (Julianna Margulies), a novelist who dips into her personal life liberally for inspiration, bickers a lot with her judgmental but fawning husband Nick (Campbell Scott), a novelist bitten by the writer’s block.—
Randy Myers,
The Mercury News,
20 Feb. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Apple-polish.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/apple-polish. Accessed 2 May. 2025.
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