obsequious
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English
Etymology
From Middle English obsequyous, from Latin obsequiōsus (“complaisant, obsequious”),[1] from obsequium (“compliance”), from obsequor (“comply with, yield to”), from ob (“in the direction of, towards”) + sequor (“follow”) (cf. sequel).
Pronunciation
Adjective
obsequious (comparative more obsequious, superlative most obsequious)
- Excessively eager and attentive to please or to obey instructions; fawning, subservient, servile.
- Synonyms: fawning, ingratiating, servile, slavish, sycophantic, truckling, smarmy, asskissing; see also Thesaurus:sycophantic
- 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, “‘Those Were the Real Conquests’”, in The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, page 259:
- Personally I felt shy and uncomfortable at this obsequious adoration, and I read the same feeling in the faces of Lord John and Summerlee, but Challenger expanded like a flower in the sun.
- 1927, Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, page 20:
- Translation falls especially short of this conceit which carries the whole flamboyance of the Spanish language. It was intended as an obsequious flattery of the Condesa, and was untrue.
- (archaic) Obedient; compliant with someone else's orders or wishes.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:obedient
- 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXXIV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 140:
- Our ladies were situated as well as it was possible; they had good servants, splendid rooms, obsequious attendants, and had become habituated to the country, so that the loss of the Count was not any thing of moment beyond the pleasure of his society; […]
- (obsolete) Of or pertaining to obsequies, funereal.
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
- […] the ſuruiuer bound / In filliall obligation for ſome tearme
To doe obſequious ſorrowe […]
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
obedient, compliant with someone else's orders
|
fawning, subservient
References
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “obsequious”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *sekʷ- (follow)
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 4-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with archaic senses
- English terms with obsolete senses
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