as in servility
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of obsequiousness
All of this amounts to a rounding error for the tech giants—averaged out, YouTube made more than $107 million from ad revenue every single day last quarter—but these are still acts of profound obsequiousness and corporate cowardice.
—
Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 1 Oct. 2025
Trump doesn’t have much to show for his obsequiousness.
—Steven Greenhut, Oc Register, 12 Sep. 2025
For another recent client, the board’s questions about his employer’s stock vesting schedule had Bari, the client, his agent, and the listing agent go through four rounds of revisions to ensure their response nailed a just-right level of obsequiousness.
—Matthew Sedacca, Curbed, 11 Aug. 2025
Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 1 Oct. 2025
Trump doesn’t have much to show for his obsequiousness.
—Steven Greenhut, Oc Register, 12 Sep. 2025
For another recent client, the board’s questions about his employer’s stock vesting schedule had Bari, the client, his agent, and the listing agent go through four rounds of revisions to ensure their response nailed a just-right level of obsequiousness.
—Matthew Sedacca, Curbed, 11 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for obsequiousness
Noun
-
Ray is the leader of a biker gang and demands utter subservience.—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
2 Oct. 2025
-
How does party capture — the subservience of entire systems — factor into this?—
Nikki McCann Ramirez,
Rolling Stone,
22 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Yet electing to be private doesn’t amount to complaisance or complicity.—
Lesley M.M. Blume,
Town & Country,
6 Dec. 2022
-
Sammy’s awareness of his mother’s infidelity, his father’s complaisance, and how both were relieved by his creative Boy Scout merit-badge projects and fantasies requires a separate article.—
Armond White,
National Review,
16 Nov. 2022
Noun
-
White supremacy is constructed and maintained by Black service work and by the extraction of a social performance of deference.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
20 Oct. 2025
-
Though the recent firings have come under legal scrutiny, and will likely remain paused for the foreseeable future, the Supreme Court has given broad deference to Trump over federal hiring so far in his second term.—
Zachary Schermele,
USA Today,
19 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Would-be autocrats create environments of fear and powerlessness, using intimidation, overwhelming force or political and legal attacks, and other coercive tactics to force acquiescence and chill democratic pushback.—
Shelley Inglis,
The Conversation,
19 Oct. 2025
-
Yet, the lesson of the Voting Rights Act is that the response to these setbacks isn’t despair or acquiescence.—
Time,
Time,
12 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Obsequiousness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/obsequiousness. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share