ingratiate

English

WOTD – 7 June 2007

Etymology

First attested in 1622. From Italian ingraziare or Medieval Latin *ingratiatus, from Latin in grātiam (“for the favor of”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈɡɹeɪ.ʃi.eɪt/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -eɪʃieɪt

Verb

ingratiate (third-person singular simple present ingratiates, present participle ingratiating, simple past and past participle ingratiated)

1. (reflexive) To bring oneself into favour with someone by flattering or trying to please them; to insinuate oneself; to worm one's way in.
   • 1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter 15, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC:

     [H]e considered this offering an homage to his merits, and an attempt on the part of the heiress to ingratiate herself into his priceless affections.

   • 1903, Samuel Butler, chapter 58, in The Way of All Flesh:

     [H]e would pat the children on the head when he saw them on the stairs, and ingratiate himself with them as far as he dared.

   • 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Eternal City”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 433:

     Her name was Michaela, but the men called her filthy things in dulcet, ingratiating voices, and she giggled with childish joy because she understood no English and thought they were flattering her and making harmless jokes.

   • 1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:

     And it is symptomatic of the many paradoxes of Lederer's life that of all the people in the room, Brotherhood is the one whom he would most wish to serve, if ever he had the opportunity, even though — or perhaps because — his occasional efforts to ingratiate himself with his adopted hero have met with iron rebuff.

   • 1991 August 17, Roanne Hindin, “FBI: Not A Fashion Statement”, in Gay Community News, volume 19, number 5, page 4:

     The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is trying to crawl out from under its rock and ingratiate itself as an "equal opportunity employer" and a friend of progressive movements.

   • 2007 July 9, Brian T. Bennett, “Why Maliki Is Still Around”, in Time, retrieved 26 May 2014:

     He ingratiated himself with the Kurdish bloc when he stood up to aggressive Turkish rhetoric about the Kurdish border in May.

2. (followed by to) To recommend; to render easy or agreeable.
   • c. 1650, Henry Hammond, "Sermon XIII" in Miscellaneous Theological Works of Henry Hammond, Volume 3 (1850 edition), p. 283 (Google preview):

     What difficulty would it [the love of Christ] not ingratiate to us?

   • 1686, John Scott, The Christian Life […] :

     the Sense of this will mightily indear and ingratiate them to us

Related terms

• ingratiating (adjective)
• ingratiation (noun)

Translations

get someone's favor, especially through flattery

• Arabic: تَمَلَّقَ (tamallaqa)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 討好 / 讨好 (zh) (tǎohǎo), 奉承 (zh) (fèngchéng)

• Dutch: bemind maken, in het gevlij komen
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: mielistellä (fi)
• French: se faire aimer
• German: einschmeicheln (de), sich beliebt machen, beliebt machen
• Japanese: 満たす (ja) (mitasu), 機嫌を取る (kigen wo toru)
• Latin: grātiam inīre ab
• Maori: whakaporepore
• Norwegian: innynde seg, smiske
• Russian: сниска́ть расположе́ние (sniskátʹ raspoložénije), втираться в дове́рие (vtiratʹsja v dovérije), заискивать (ru) (zaiskivatʹ)
• Spanish: congraciarse (es)
• Swedish: ställa sig in (sv)