grovel

grovel
I
(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)
v. fawn, creep, cringe; wallow, humble (oneself). See servility, lowness.
II
(Roget's IV) v.
Syn. crawl, cringe, fawn, fawn upon, beg, sneak, stoop, kneel, crouch before, truckle, kowtow, implore, toady, sponge, cower, snivel, beseech, wheedle, blandish, flatter, cater to, humor, pamper, curry favor with, make much of, court, act up to, play up to*, beg for mercy, prostrate, reverence, eat humble pie*, soft-soap*, butter up*, make up to*, kiss one's feet*, lick the dust*, dance attendance on*, lick another's boots*, knuckle under*, polish the apple*, eat dirt*, brown-nose*, suck up to*, shine up to*, kiss up to*.
Ant. hate*, spurn, scorn.
III
(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) v.
*bow and scrape, kowtow, cringe, beg, *kiss up, *brownnose, toady, *fall all over, demean oneself, fawn, *bootlick, *kiss feet, cower, *suck up to, wheedle, cower, *apple-polish, kneel before, worm.
ANT.: defy, challenge, dominate
IV
(Roget's Thesaurus II) verb To support slavishly every opinion or suggestion of a superior: bootlick, cringe, fawn, kowtow, slaver, toady, truckle. Informal: apple-polish, brownnose, cotton. Slang: suck up. Idioms: curry favor, dance attendance, kiss someone's feet, lick someone's boots. See OVER.

English dictionary for students. 2013.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Grovel — Grov el, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Groveled}or {Grovelled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Groveling} or {Grovelling}.] [From OE. grovelinge, grufelinge, adv., on the face, prone, which was misunderstood as a p. pr.; cf. OE. gruf, groff, in the same sense; of Scand …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • grovel — index truckle Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • grovel — (v.) 1590s, Shakespearian back formation of groveling (M.E.), regarded as a prp. but really an adverb, from O.N. grufe prone + obsolete adverbial suffix ling (which survives also as the long in HEADLONG (Cf. headlong), SIDELONG (Cf. sidelong));… …   Etymology dictionary

  • grovel — *wallow, welter Analogous words: *fawn, cringe, cower, toady, truckle: crawl, *creep: *abase, demean, humble Contrasted words: soar, mount, ascend, *rise: aspire (see AIM) …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • grovel — meaning ‘to behave obsequiously’, has inflected forms grovelled, grovelling, and in AmE also groveled, groveling …   Modern English usage

  • grovel — [v] abase, demean oneself apple polish*, beg, beg for mercy, beseech, blandish, bootlick*, bow and scrape*, brown nose*, butter up*, cater to, court, cower, crawl, creep, cringe, crouch, eat crow*, eat dirt*, eat humble pie*, fall all over*,… …   New thesaurus

  • grovel — ► VERB (grovelled, grovelling; US groveled, groveling) 1) crouch or crawl abjectly on the ground. 2) act obsequiously to obtain forgiveness or favour. DERIVATIVES groveller noun. ORIGIN …   English terms dictionary

  • grovel — [gräv′əl, gruv′əl] vi. groveled or grovelled, groveling or grovelling [back form. (first found in Shakespeare) < grovelling, down on one s face (assumed to be prp.) < ME grufelinge < gruf, for o grufe, on the face (< ON ā grūfu) +… …   English World dictionary

  • grovel — v. 1) (D; intr.) to grovel to (she will not grovel to anyone) 2) (misc.) to grovel in the dirt * * * [ grɒv(ə)l] (misc.) to grovel in the dirt (D; intr.) to grovel to (she will not grovel to anyone) …   Combinatory dictionary

  • grovel — [[t]grɒ̱v(ə)l[/t]] grovels, grovelling, grovelled (in AM, use groveling, groveled) 1) VERB (disapproval) If you say that someone grovels, you think they are behaving too respectfully towards another person, for example because they are frightened …   English dictionary

  • grovel — grov|el [ˈgrɔvəl US ˈgra: , ˈgrʌ ] v past tense and past participle grovelled present participle grovelling BrE past tense and past participle groveled present participle groveling AmE [Date: 1800 1900; Origin: groveling lying face downward (16… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

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