adulation

English

Etymology

From French adulation, from Latin adulātio (“flattery”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌædʒʊˈleɪʃən/, /ˌædjʊˈleɪʃən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌæd͡ʒəˈleɪʃən/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

adulation (countable and uncountable, plural adulations)

1. Flattery; fulsome praise.

   He was uncomfortable with the adulation from his fans.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter III, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.

   • 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 1”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:

     It is still possible to discuss his place in art, and the adulation of his admirers is perhaps no less capricious than the disparagement of his detractors; [...]

   • 2025 January 15, Linda Feldmann, “Outside the DC jail, where Jan. 6 rage and devotion live on”, in The Christian Science Monitor:

     To law enforcement officers injured in the Jan. 6 mayhem, as well as members of Congress and others present in the Capitol that day who feared for their lives, such adulation for convicted rioters is not only misguided but also anathema to a civilized society.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:flattery

Related terms

• adulate
• adulator
• adulatory

Translations

Flattery; fulsome praise

• Arabic: تَمَلُّق m (tamalluq), مَلَق (malaq)
• Bulgarian: ласкателство (bg) (laskatelstvo)
• Catalan: adulació f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 奉承 (zh) (fèngchéng), 吹捧 (zh) (chuīpěng), 諂媚 / 谄媚 (zh) (chǎnmèi)

• Czech: pochlebování n, vychvalování n
• Danish: smigreri n
• Finnish: mielistely (fi), imartelu (fi)
• French: adulation (fr) f
• German: Lobhudelei (de) f, Vergötterung (de) f
• Hungarian: hízelgés (hu)
• Indonesian: puji-pujian, puja-pujaan, pujian, pujaan
• Italian: adulazione (it) f
• Latin: adulātio f
• Maori: enenga
• Norwegian: grov (no) smiger,, smisking c
• Portuguese: adulação (pt) f
• Romagnol: adulaziôn f
• Russian: ле́сть (ru) f (léstʹ), подхали́мство (ru) n (podxalímstvo)
• Swedish: kryperi n, rövslickeri n

See also

• admiration
• adoration

Anagrams

• laudation

French

Etymology

From Latin adulātiōnem (“flattery”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.dy.la.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

adulation f (plural adulations)

1. adulation

Related terms

• aduler
• adulateur

Further reading

• “adulation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.