Meaning & use
groveling
Last updated
Behaving with excessive, humiliating humility, typically to win favor or forgiveness from someone in power.
See it in a sentence
He spent the whole apology groveling for his boss's forgiveness.
She refused to keep groveling to a manager who never appreciated her work.
A note on using this word
The word originally described lying face-down on the ground, an image that still colors its modern sense of abject, self-abasing submission.
Words with a similar meaning
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Words with an opposite meaning
standing talldefying
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