adulation means flattery; fulsome praise. It carries an Arena rating of 1652, earned across 60 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, adulation ranks #2,607 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #6,719 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #7,104 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #7,243 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words.
adulation is pronounced /ˌædʒʊˈleɪʃən/.
Why “adulation” is a great word
ADULATION — [Noun] Excessive or servile flattery; exaggerated and insincere praise. From Middle English, from Middle French adulation, from Latin adūlātiō, adūlātiōn- ("servile flattery, fawning"), first attested in English in the late 14th century. Unlike “admiration,” which implies a genuine, respectful regard, or measured “praise,” which can be sincere, adulation is a performance—the glittering coin of the desperate and the calculating. It is the sycophant’s laugh a beat too loud, the fevered shriek from the front row, and the florid dedication in an unread book—a hollow ritual where the idol is not worshipped, but used.
Etymology
From French adulation, from Latin adulātio (“flattery”).
noun
- Flattery; fulsome praise.e.g.“He was uncomfortable with the adulation from his fans.”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.