ingratiating

[ in-grey-shee-ey-ting ]

adjective

1. charming; agreeable; pleasing.
2. deliberately meant to gain favor:

   an ingratiating manner.

Other Words From

• in·grati·ating·ly adverb
• unin·grati·ating adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of ingratiating¹

First recorded in 1635–45; ingratiat(e) + -ing ²

Example Sentences

Both show off Glaser’s gift for grabbing a subject, attacking it from every side, playing smart and dumb, ingratiating and insulting, going sweet or sour.

From New York Times

Benjamine Webb, 30, spent years ingratiating himself with families in order to access children.

From BBC

His smile is both practiced and ingratiating; his eyes seem darker than this film’s eerily black ocean, like velvet curtains tightly drawn.

From Seattle Times

This initial rift set in motion several entry points for Peck to not only continue ingratiating himself into Drake’s life but also enable him to drive a wedge between Drake and his father.

From Salon

“The Monk and the Gun,” a modestly scaled, lightly comic and blithely ingratiating tale set in Bhutan takes place in the recent past, when the country held mock elections.

From New York Times

Related Words

• charming
• disarming
• smarmy