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
show current usage.
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Recent Examples of toady
Charles Selle, Chicago Tribune, 3 Mar. 2025
After Zelenskyy wouldn’t genuflect, Trump got toadies Marco Rubio and Mike Waltz to ask the Ukrainian to leave.
—New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 28 Feb. 2025
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
Most Americans don’t get it either, or why previous senators backing Ukraine have become toadies to Trump’s outrageous claims against the Ukrainians.
—Charles Selle, Chicago Tribune, 3 Mar. 2025
After Zelenskyy wouldn’t genuflect, Trump got toadies Marco Rubio and Mike Waltz to ask the Ukrainian to leave.
—New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 28 Feb. 2025
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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Really good, and if you’re not fussed about mod cons or hybrid tech, one can be sat on your driveway for just £18,850 ($24,388).—
Matthew MacConnell,
Forbes.com,
31 Mar. 2025
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Even so, the film’s Very Online fandom didn’t seem fussed.—
Louis Staples,
Rolling Stone,
24 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Heslov said that Clooney has made sure to keep his old friends close, so he isn’t surrounded by sycophants.—
Thea Traff,
New York Times,
20 Feb. 2025
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What may be worse is that a gaggle of sycophants and groupthink team members underneath the Dark Empath—the direct reports—create a ruthless echo chamber for the king or queen at the top of Mt. Stupid.—
Dan Pontefract,
Forbes,
11 Mar. 2025
Verb
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The person who can harness that anger is not someone who kowtows to Kirk and Bannon.—
Jay Caspian Kang,
The New Yorker,
21 Mar. 2025
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So, too, do the financial titans and tech billionaires who have supposedly kowtowed to Trump since his reelection.—
Matthew Karp,
Harper's Magazine,
28 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Republican lickspittles like Lindsey Graham and Jim Banks praised Trump and trashed Zelenskyy while Russian leaders rejoiced.—
Maureen Dowd,
The Mercury News,
4 Mar. 2025
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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
Verb
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Lots of people coming, knocking on his door, fawning, hoping for a good deal.—
Terry Gross,
NPR,
9 Apr. 2025
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Alina Habba, a former Trump lawyer now serving in the White House as counselor to the president, fawned over him during a joint appearance last month on Benny Johnson's podcast.—
Newsweek,
Newsweek,
28 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Musk and his hacker minions have blown into departments, demanding access to highly sensitive data in pursuit of finding waste, fraud, and abuse—often making cuts and promoting the reductions before fully understanding what was going on.—
Philip Elliott,
Time,
2 Apr. 2025
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Decisions made today by Trump and his minions will affect our children and our children’s children for years to come.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
19 Mar. 2025
Verb
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There’s a reason scouts once drooled over Williams’ potential.—
C.J. Holmes,
New York Daily News,
8 Mar. 2025
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Symptoms from scorpion stings — such as burning at the sting site, drooling.—
Rick Sobey,
Boston Herald,
3 Mar. 2025
Noun
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His other performances included as Robert De Niro’s nasty henchman in Michael Mann’s Heat (1995); as Marlon Brando’s insane assistant in John Frankenheimer’s The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) and as the suave crook Simon Templar in Phillip Noyce’s The Saint (1997).—
Etan Vlessing,
HollywoodReporter,
2 Apr. 2025
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The not-so-grand finale of Reacher’s third season opens with a gun battle that leaves an entire ATF Special Response Team dead, along with a commensurate number of henchmen that Quinn flew in from somewhere.—
Chris Klimek,
Vulture,
27 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Toady.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/toady. Accessed 16 Apr. 2025.
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