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Pronunciation
/ˈsɪkəfant/
Meaning
- someone who praises powerful or rich people in a way that is not sincere, usually in order to get some advantage from them
Sample Sentences
- The prime minister is surrounded by sycophants.
- Sycophants will rise to the top if a team is discouraged from giving frank opinions..
- The advisers are sycophants and they will never tell him to retire.
Related words
toady, creep, crawler, fawner, flatterer, flunkey, truckler, groveller, doormat, lickspittle, kowtower, obsequious person, minion, hanger-on, leech
Trivia
It derives from two other Greek words, sykon (meaning “fig”) and phainein (meaning “to show or reveal”). How did fig revealers become slanderers? As the Merriam Webster reveals ‘one theory has to do with the taxes Greek farmers were required to pay on the figs they brought to market. Apparently, the farmers would sometimes try to avoid making the payments, but squealers—fig revealers—would fink on them, and they would be forced to pay‘