Literary notes about Sycophantic (AI summary)
In literature, "sycophantic" is frequently employed to depict characters whose fawning and obsequious behavior highlights social hypocrisy or serves as a tool for satire. Authors use it to characterize individuals who, despite their own shortcomings, lavish false praise and ingratiating compliments toward those in power, as seen when a character’s deference turns his behavior "sycophantic" even in the midst of insolence [1]. The term is also applied to underscore an almost theatrical excess in manners, such as when a “sycophantic compliment” is rendered as nothing more than a palliative of false admiration [2] or when a personality is criticized for lacking genuine emotion in favor of insincere, flattering gestures [3]. In this way, "sycophantic" not only describes superficial deference but also serves as a nuanced commentary on the dynamics of power and the performative aspects of social interactions in literary narratives.
- He was rough to his servants, insolent to inferiors, and sycophantic to men of rank.
— from A Modern History, From the Time of Luther to the Fall of NapoleonFor the Use of Schools and Colleges by John Lord - "A Doctorate of Laws," he said, "for which an apology was necessary, was (p. 242) a cheap honor and ... a sycophantic compliment."
— from John Quincy AdamsAmerican Statesmen Series by John Torrey Morse - The contrary defect, namely, a sycophantic amiability, which approves of everything and admires everything: example, the Philinte of Molière.
— from Elements of Morals With Special Application of the Moral Law to the Duties of the Individual and of Society and the State by Paul Janet
