Obsequious

/əbˈsiːkwi.əs/ · adjective

Meaning

Excessively eager and attentive to please or to obey instructions; fawning, subservient, servile..

Definitions by Sense

1. Excessively eager and attentive to please or to obey instructions; fawning, subservient, servile.
2. (archaic) Obedient; compliant with someone else's orders or wishes.
3. (obsolete) Of or pertaining to obsequies, funereal.

Example Sentences

Personally I felt shy and uncomfortable at this obsequious adoration, and I read the same feeling in the faces of Lord John and Summerlee, but Challenger expanded like a flower in the sun.

Translation falls especially short of this conceit which carries the whole flamboyance of the Spanish language. It was intended as an obsequious flattery of the Condesa, and was untrue.

[S]he complained pettishly of the heat and the flies and at length of the walk, and reduced Robert to the antics of an obsequious dog.

Our ladies were situated as well as it was possible; they had good servants, splendid rooms, obsequious attendants, and had become habituated to the country, so that the loss of the Count was not any thing of moment beyond the pleasure of his society;[…]

[…] the ſuruiuer bound / In filliall obligation for ſome tearme To doe obſequious ſorrowe […]

Synonyms for obsequious

Antonyms for obsequious

Related Words

Word Forms

• more obsequious
• most obsequious

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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