adulate

American  

[aj-uh-leyt] / ˈædʒ əˌleɪt /

verb (used with object)

adulated, adulating

1. to show excessive admiration or devotion to; flatter or admire servilely.

---

adulate British  

/ ˈædjʊˌleɪt /

verb

1. (tr) to flatter or praise obsequiously

---

Other Word Forms

• adulation noun
• adulator noun

Etymology

Origin of adulate

First recorded in 1770–80; back formation from adulation

Explanation

To adulate is to flatter someone. A lot. Like, drop-on-your-knees-and-clasp-your-hands-and-say-"you-are-the-greatest-ever-to-walk-the-earth" a lot. The most interesting syllable in adulate is the ul-, which comes from ulos, a Latin word meaning "tail." The idea is that if you're heaping flattery on someone, you might as well be a dog wagging its tail, panting for a treat. Not that there's anything wrong with a little flattery. Or dogs.

Example Sentences

They use poetic, romantic language to adulate this criterion lota and refuse to use any other instrument, similar to seniors who reject CDs and insist that “everything sounds better on vinyl.”

From Salon • Jul. 10, 2012

Is the planet so emaciated in human leadership--the Mother Teresas and Geraldine Ferraros--that we have to adulate the American dollar?

From Time Magazine Archive

There must be villains and heroes, nations to hate or to adulate.

From Time Magazine Archive

But I came not to adulate: Your frankness I shall compensate By an avowal just as plain.

From Eugene Oneguine [Onegin] A Romance of Russian Life in Verse by Spalding, Henry

Great heavens, what is there to adulate in me?

From The Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan by Gilbert, W. S. (William Schwenck), Sir