obsequiousness
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English obsequyousnesse, equivalent to obsequious + -ness.
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General American): (file)
Noun
[edit]obsequiousness (usually uncountable, plural obsequiousnesses)
- The quality of being obsequious; servile compliance.
- Synonyms: obsequience, obsequiosity, obsequity
- 1880, Mark Twain [pseudonym] (Samuel L[anghorne] Clemens), A Tramp Abroad; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company; London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
- The crusty portier and the crusty clerks gave us the surly reception which their kind deal out in prosperous times, but by mollifying them with an extra display of obsequiousness and servility we finally got them to show us to the room which our boy had engaged for us.
- 2018 May 9, George F. Will, “Trump is no longer the worst person in government”, in The Washington Post[1], archived from the original on 11 July 2018:
- The oleaginous Mike Pence, with his talent for toadyism and appetite for obsequiousness, could, Trump knew, become America’s most repulsive public figure.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]quality of being obsequious
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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 suffixed with -ness
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations