formalPERSUADE someone who praises powerful people too much because they want to get something from them – used to show disapproval 阿谀奉承者,谄媚者,拍马屁者〔含贬义〕
a dictator surrounded by sycophants
被阿谀奉承者包围的独裁者
Examples from the Corpus
sycophant• My father was just a blatantsycophant.• It takes little effort to imagine how he is treated by sycophants and opportunists.• He would not be a fawningsycophant.• We have frightened them and made noddingsycophants of them, and now we wish them to fight with style and courage.• As a result, at least off the track and in business, he had about him only sycophants.• Reese's mistake was to surround himself with sycophants.
Originsycophant
(1500-1600)Latinsycophanta“someone who tells about the bad actions of another, flatterer”, from Greeksykophantes, from sykon“fig” + phainein“to show”