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obsequious

adj
/əbˈsiːkwi.əs/UK

Etymology

From Middle English obsequyous, from Latin obsequiōsus (“complaisant, obsequious”), from obsequium (“compliance”), from obsequor (“comply with, yield to”), from ob (“in the direction of, towards”) + sequor (“follow”) (cf. sequel).

  1. derived from obsequiōsus
  2. inherited from obsequyous

Definitions

  1. Excessively eager and attentive to please or to obey instructions

    Excessively eager and attentive to please or to obey instructions; fawning, subservient, servile.

    • Personally I felt shy and uncomfortable at this obsequious adoration, and I read the same feeling in the faces of Lord John and Summerlee, but Challenger expanded like a flower in the sun.
    • Translation falls especially short of this conceit which carries the whole flamboyance of the Spanish language. It was intended as an obsequious flattery of the Condesa, and was untrue.
    • [S]he complained pettishly of the heat and the flies and at length of the walk, and reduced Robert to the antics of an obsequious dog.

  2. Obedient

    Obedient; compliant with someone else's orders or wishes.

  3. Of or pertaining to obsequies, funereal.

    • […] the ſuruiuer bound / In filliall obligation for ſome tearme To doe obſequious ſorrowe […]

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at obsequious. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01obsequious02compliant03submissive04engaging05enthralling06enthrall07subservient08obsequiously

A definitional loop anchored at obsequious. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

8 hops · closes at obsequious

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA