as in flunkey
a person who flatters another in order to get ahead
no one liked the office toady, who spent most of her time complimenting the boss on what a great job he was doing
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
as in to fuss
to use flattery or the doing of favors in order to win approval especially from a superior
a satirical novel about an amoral go-getter who toadies his way to the top of the corporate ladder
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of toady
David Fear, Rolling Stone, 1 Aug. 2024
Even meteorologists would face an uncertain future, given that Project 2025 also calls for replacing tens of thousands of federal workers with political toadies beholden only to the White House.
—Pat Beall, Orlando Sentinel, 28 July 2024
Tori Otten, The New Republic, 27 Feb. 2023
And snobs are accused of toadying to aristocratic types.
—P.j. O'Rourke, Town & Country, 15 Sep. 2016
See All Example Sentences for toady
Noun
Alfred Molina, Ving Rhames, Toby Jones, and Paul Walter Hauser all drop by to add their touches to an underworld majordomo, a dogged BPD Special Ops officer, a political toady and Boston’s single dumbest thug, respectively.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 1 Aug. 2024
Even meteorologists would face an uncertain future, given that Project 2025 also calls for replacing tens of thousands of federal workers with political toadies beholden only to the White House.
—Pat Beall, Orlando Sentinel, 28 July 2024
Verb
Fox News has long been accused of peddling Trump’s falsehoods and toadying up to the former president.
—Tori Otten, The New Republic, 27 Feb. 2023
And snobs are accused of toadying to aristocratic types.
—P.j. O'Rourke, Town & Country, 15 Sep. 2016
See All Example Sentences for toady
Recent Examples of Synonyms for toady
Verb
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On top of this, her mother and sister are fussing about her future relationship status, which leads to them plotting some dates for her.—
Tommy Tuberville,
Newsweek,
7 Mar. 2025
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The world saw this five-man group as an ideal of friendship, a community working and living together, fussing and fighting but making rough beauty out of it.—
Rob Sheffield,
Rolling Stone,
21 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Of course, Veep’s sycophants, buffoons, and backstabbers bear little resemblance to the vanguard of our latest regime.—
Judy Berman,
TIME,
20 Feb. 2025
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Yet Ariel soon grows concerned that Moretti’s servants and sycophants on his massive swath of remote land act more like cult members than superfans and, of course, dark secrets await.—
William Earl,
Variety,
27 Jan. 2025
Verb
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This includes his daughter, Tal, who has a hard time dealing with her father’s refusal to kowtow to politicians.—
Jordan Mintzer,
The Hollywood Reporter,
20 Feb. 2025
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Amazon, and all of its attendant properties, is owned by Jeff Bezos, who has proven in recent months to have no issue kowtowing to authoritarians for the sake of his bottom line.—
Maureen Lee Lenker,
EW.com,
20 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Of course, being a junior senator and attaching your name to legislation that has little chance of being enacted—none of those have bills passed—is very different from being Vice-President and chief lickspittle to Trump.—
John Cassidy,
The New Yorker,
22 July 2024
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Such as holding court, choosing your sobriquet, and naming imbecilic lickspittles to our Kingsguard.—
Kimberly Roots,
TVLine,
7 July 2024
Verb
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In short clips that have reached upward of four million views and 600,000 likes on TikTok, users are fawning over the rising star’s good looks and passionate on-court personality.—
Brendan Le,
People.com,
8 Mar. 2025
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As per usual, the NFL player was in the comment section fawning over the singer and tempting her with a good time.—
Elizabeth Ayoola,
Essence,
7 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Sadly, perhaps much of what the Oscar winner is doing here will be lost in the blowback the unsweetened Trump critic will undoubtedly be subjected to from the MAGA minions and their kingpin in the days to come.—
Dominic Patten,
Deadline,
20 Feb. 2025
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Welles later said a Hearst minion had tried, unsuccessfully, to frame Welles by sending a 14-year-old girl to his hotel room.—
John Semley,
Smithsonian Magazine,
12 Feb. 2025
Verb
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And more than 130 people said their therapist fell asleep during therapy — sometimes going so far as to start drooling or snoring.—
Christina Caron,
New York Times,
20 Feb. 2025
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Art Deco is enticing in art and in theaters, not so much in a home with drooling pets and messy toddlers.—
Amanda Lauren,
Forbes,
19 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Raq is a master manipulator who claims to value loyalty above all else, especially from her henchmen brothers Marvin (London Brown) and Lou (Malcolm Mays) and her only son, yet constantly destabilizes the three of them with selfish mind games and power plays that genuinely harm them.—
Robyn Bahr,
The Hollywood Reporter,
7 Mar. 2025
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One whack and the burly guard or crime boss henchman is knocked out for the rest of the caper.—
Rich Heldenfels,
Boston Herald,
2 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Toady.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/toady. Accessed 12 Mar. 2025.
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