sycophant
noun

- a servile self-seeking flatterer

- someone praising powerful people for personal advantage

- a person who praises people in authority in a way that is not sincere, usually in order to get some advantage from them

Merriam-Webster / Macmillan Dictionary / Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

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WORD ORIGIN

“Sycophant” comes from the Latin sycophanta and the Greek sykophantes, originally meaning “one who shows the fig” (sykon = fig + phanein = to show). The act of showing the fig was a vulgar gesture made by sticking the thumb between two fingers.

The sense of "praising people in authority" was first recorded in English in 1575.

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SYCOPHANTIC PRISONERS

One day Frederick the Great conducted a tour of inspection of a prison in Berlin. While most prisoners approached the king, protesting their innocence, one man remained unusually silent. It was to this man that Frederick turned:

-  “You…”
-  “Yes?”
-  “Why are you here?”
-  “Armed robbery, Your Majesty.”
-  “Are you guilty?”
-  “Yes, Your Majesty. I deserve my punishment.”

At this, Frederick summoned the prison warden.

-  “Release this guilty wretch at once,” he commanded, “I will not have him kept in this prison, where he will corrupt all of its innocent occupants.”

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SYNONYMS

One who uses obsequious* compliments to gain self-serving favour or advantage from another

adulator, apple-polisher, backscratcher, backslapper, bootlicker, chamcha, charmer, crawler, creep, cringer, crony, dogsbody, doormat, doter, fawner, flatterer, flunkey, gofer, gopher, groupie, groveller, hanger-on, hireling, jackal, kiss-up, kowtower, lackey, lapdog, lickspittle, minion, obsequious person, people-pleaser, poodle, social climber, spaniel, suck-up, sucker, suck(er) up, sweet talker, SYCOPHANT, teacher’s pet, toad-eater, toady, truckler, underling, Uriah Heep, wannabe, yeasayer, yes-man, yes-person, yes-woman

*obsequious = unterwürfig, kriecherisch

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