Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sucking (up to)
Verb
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The preview for The Muppet Show reveals special guest Sabrina Carpenter buttering up Miss Piggy backstage.—
Ashley Iasimone,
Billboard,
3 Sep. 2019
Verb
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Infantino’s gesture might strike people unacquainted with World Cup history as shamelessly fawning.—
Ian Buruma,
New Yorker,
23 Feb. 2026
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With the Republican Congress fawning at his feet, the ideal of democracy that the will of the people governs the nation is being buried under multimedia waves of the autocratic ambition of wealth.—
DP Opinion,
Denver Post,
21 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Serkis and Peter Jackson spent most of last year coaxing Winslet to appear in the film, which means uprooting to New Zealand to shoot her scenes in the film from late May through to October.—
Baz Bamigboye,
Deadline,
11 Mar. 2026
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One was quick and the other needed coaxing.—
Steve Sadin,
Chicago Tribune,
9 Mar. 2026
Verb
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After all, the series largely avoids other topical issues of modern campus life, from freedom of speech restrictions to administrators kowtowing to autocracies.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
5 Mar. 2026
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The public demand was made based on a social media post from right-wing journalist Laura Loomer, who pointed to a video in which Rice vowed to hold companies accountable for kowtowing to Trump if Democrats regain power in the federal government.—
David Zimmermann,
The Washington Examiner,
22 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Europe has long underspent on defense, and where American cajoling for decades had not worked, a few face slaps succeeded.—
Eliot A. Cohen,
The Atlantic,
19 Jan. 2026
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Although Texas, Missouri, Ohio and North Carolina went along, Indiana did not -- despite cajoling and insults from the president and the possibility of primary challenges.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
12 Dec. 2025
Verb
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In a bid to rekindle the couple’s honeymoon phase, Yasmin troubleshoots by wheedling a chief executive role for him at payment processing company Tender (run by Max Minghella‘s inscrutable puppet-master Whitney Halberstram), and throwing her husband a lavish costume party for his 40th birthday.—
Natalie Oganesyan,
Deadline,
18 Jan. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Sucking (up to).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sucking%20%28up%20to%29. Accessed 21 Mar. 2026.
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