This week’s theme
Words to describe US presidential candidates

This week’s words
exuberant
senescent
avuncular
sycophantic
indefatigable

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(sik/sy-kuh-FAN-tik)

MEANING:

adjective: Excessively flattering or fawning, especially in an attempt to win favor or gain advantage.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin sycophanta (informer, slanderer), from Greek sykophantes (informer, slanderer), from sykon (fig) + phainein (to show). Earliest documented use: 1698.

NOTES:

How did the meaning of sycophant shift from “fig-shower” to “informer” and then to “flatterer”? There are two main theories, though neither is confirmed. One theory suggests that the word originally referred to someone who informed against the theft or illegal export of figs in ancient Athens. The other theory suggests it referred to someone who made the fig sign, an ancient hand gesture considered rude or accusatory in some cultures, but a good luck or fertility symbol in others. If the former is correct, when the word entered the English language its meaning shifted from “informer” to “flatterer”. Both denote insincerity, as an informer curries favor with someone while secretly betraying them.

USAGE:

“In 2016, [JD Vance] was calling Trump ‘America’s Hitler’ in private messages to a friend; now he is the former president’s running mate and most sycophantic defender.”
Becca Rothfeld; “Hillbilly Elegy” and JD Vance’s Art of Having It Both Ways; The Washington Post; Jul 23, 2024.

“I didn’t have very high hopes for the first millennial running for vice president on a major party ticket -- any guy running with Donald Trump has to be spineless and sycophantic by nature, as a job requirement -- but boy, JD Vance has been not only disappointing but confusing and creepy.”
Victoria Hugo-Vidal; JD Vance Has Women All Wrong; Portland Press Herald (Maine); Sep 8, 2024.

See more usage examples of sycophantic in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: