flattery

English

Etymology

From Middle English flaterye, flaterie, from Old French flaterie, from the verb flater (“to flatter”).

Noun

flattery (countable and uncountable, plural flatteries)

1. (uncountable) Excessive praise or approval, which is often insincere and sometimes contrived to win favour.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 2, in The Mirror and the Lamp‎^[1]:

     That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.

2. (countable) An instance of excessive praise.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:flattery

Related terms

• flatter
• flattered
• flattering

Translations

excessive praise

• Albanian: lajka f pl
• Belarusian: ліслі́васць f (lislívascʹ), лёсткі f pl (ljóstki), лёстачкі f pl (ljóstački)
• Bulgarian: ласкателство (bg) n (laskatelstvo)
• Catalan: adulació f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 吹捧 (zh) (chuīpěng), 马屁 (zh) (mǎpì), 奉承 (zh) (fèngchéng), 逢迎 (zh) (féngyíng) (literary)

• Czech: lichocení n, pochlebování n
• Dutch: vleierij (nl) f
• Esperanto: flato
• French: flatterie (fr) f
• German: Schmeichelei (de) f, Schöntuerei f, (colloquial) Schmus (de) m
• Greek: κολακεία (el) f (kolakeía)

  Ancient: κολακεία f (kolakeía)

• Irish: spleáchas m, spleá f, bladar m, plámás m

  Old Irish: spled, spledachus m

• Italian: salamelecchi pl, adulazione (it) f, piaggeria (it) f, sviolinata (it) f, incensamento (it) m, chitarrata f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: お世辞 (ja) (oseji), おべっか (ja) (obekka), 諂媚 (tembi)
• Korean: 아첨 (ko) (acheom)
• Latin: blanditia f
• Lithuanian: meilikavimas m
• Polish: pochlebstwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: lisonja (pt) f, bajulação (pt) f
• Russian: лесть (ru) f (lestʹ), подхали́мство (ru) n (podxalímstvo)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ласкање n

  Roman: laskanje n

• Slovak: lichotenie n
• Spanish: adulación (es) f, peloteo (es) m
• Tagalog: pambobola
• Tok Pisin: gris
• Ukrainian: ле́стощі f pl (léstošči), ле́стка f (léstka)
• Volapük: flät (vo)

instant of excessive praise

• Albanian: lajkë (sq) f
• Czech: lichotka f
• German: (colloquial) Geschmeichel n
• Greek: κολακεία (el) f (kolakeía)
• Italian: lusinga (it) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: pochlebstwo (pl) n
• Spanish: piropo (es) m, camelo (es) m, lisonja (es) f, requiebro (es) m, halago (es) m, flor (es) f, zalamería (es) f, carantoña (es) f
• Tok Pisin: gris

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Finnish: imartelu (fi), mielistely (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: hízelgés (hu)

Anagrams

• flat tyre