Adjacent Words

Obsequious definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

OBSE'QUIOUS, a. [from L. obsequium, complaisance, from obsequor, to follow; ob and sequor.]
1. Promptly obedient or submissive to the will of another; compliant; yielding to the desires of others, properly to the will or command of a superior, but in actual use, it often signifies yielding to the will or desires of such as have no right to control.
His servants weeping, obsequious to his orders, bear him hither.
2. Servilely or meanly condescending; compliant to excess; as an obsequious flatterer, minion or parasite.
3. Funereal; pertaining to funeral rites. [Not used.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: attempting to win favor from influential people by flattery [syn: bootlicking, fawning, obsequious, sycophantic, toadyish]
2: attentive in an ingratiating or servile manner; "obsequious shop assistants"

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Middle English, compliant, from Latin obsequiosus, from obsequium compliance, from obsequi to comply, from ob- toward + sequi to follow — more at ob-, sue Date: 15th century marked by or exhibiting a fawning attentiveness Synonyms: see subservient • obsequiously adverb • obsequiousness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. servilely obedient or attentive. Derivatives: obsequiously adv. obsequiousness n. Etymology: ME f. L obsequiosus f. obsequium compliance (as OB-, sequi follow)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Obsequious Ob*se"qui*ous, a. [L. obsequiosus, fr. obsequium compliance, fr. obsequi, fr. obsequi: cf. F. obs['e]quieux, See Obsequent, and cf. Obsequy.] 1. Promptly obedient, or submissive, to the will of another; compliant; yielding to the desires of another; devoted. [Obs.] His servants weeping, Obsequious to his orders, bear him hither. --Addison. 2. Servilely or meanly attentive; compliant to excess; cringing; fawning; as, obsequious flatterer, parasite. There lies ever in ``obsequious'' at the present the sense of an observance which is overdone, of an unmanly readiness to fall in with the will of another. --Trench. 3. [See Obsequy.] Of or pertaining to obsequies; funereal. [R.] ``To do obsequious sorrow.'' --Shak. Syn: Compliant; obedient; servile. See Yielding.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If you describe someone as obsequious, you are criticizing them because they are too eager to help or agree with someone more important than them. Barrow was positively obsequious to me until he learnt that I too was the son of a labouring man. = servile ADJ [disapproval] • obsequiously He smiled and bowed obsequiously to Winger. ADV: ADV with v • obsequiousness I told him to get lost and leave me alone and his tone quickly changed from obsequiousness to outright anger.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. Fawning, sycophantic, deferential, flattering, cringing, servile, slavish, supple, meanly submissive.

Moby Thesaurus

abject, adulatory, ass-kissing, backscratching, beggarly, bland, blandishing, blarneying, bootlicking, brown-nosing, buttery, cajoling, complimentary, courtierly, courtly, cowering, crawling, cringing, crouching, deferential, fair-spoken, fawning, fine-spoken, flattering, footlicking, fulsome, groveling, gushing, hangdog, honey-mouthed, honey-tongued, honeyed, ingratiating, insincere, insinuating, low, mealy-mouthed, mealymouthed, menial, obeisant, oily, oily-tongued, on bended knee, parasitic, prone, prostrate, servile, slavish, slimy, slobbery, smarmy, smooth, smooth-spoken, smooth-tongued, sniveling, soapy, soft-soaping, sponging, submissive, subservient, sycophantic, sycophantical, sycophantish, timeserving, toadeating, toadying, toadyish, truckling, unctuous, wheedling