adulation
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of adulation
Middle English < Middle French < Latin adūlātiōn- (stem of adūlātiō ) servile flattery, fawning, equivalent to adūlāt ( us ), past participle of adūlārī, -āre to fawn upon (of dogs), apparently a nominal derivative, with ad- ad-, of an otherwise unattested base + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
If you've ever been to a pop concert filled with screaming fans you've probably been exposed to adulation — praise so over-the-top it's almost embarrassing. The Latin word adulatio means "flattery." It's made up of the roots ad ("to") and ulos ("tail"), and if you're thinking of a dog wagging its tail to and fro to get a treat from its owner, you're on the right track. As anyone who's seen a crazed fan drooling over a celebrity knows, adulation is one of the more doglike of human behaviors.
Vocabulary lists containing adulation
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"
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Native Son
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Pizza popped up as often as pate on plates, while one caterer from La Reunion has won social media adulation for his gifts of cari, a spicy dish popular on the Indian Ocean island.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
Presumably they were hoping for more than this, since the proposal has been met with raised eyebrows rather than adulation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
The Warrington teenager cupped his ears to lap up the adulation of a delirious crowd while fellow Englishman Aspinall laughed in disbelief before he gave Littler a high five.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
But in October 2008 at the height of the global economic turmoil fueled by America’s home mortgage meltdown, Greenspan appeared on Capitol Hill to a reception entirely different from the adulation he received while chairman.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
He thinks Aurier should have applied the adulation to other painters, to Monticelli above all.
From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
