ISEE/SSAT Vocabulary BuilderWordsOobsequious
ISEE/SSAThard
obsequious
Meaning: too eager to obey or please someone important
obsequious in a sentence
How obsequious is used in real sentences:
The obsequious assistant praised even the manager's worst ideas.
His obsequious praise of the principal sounded more servile than respectful.
“At the hearing, an obsequious clerk hovered around the mayor, straightening her papers and applauding each remark.”
— from the passage The Altered Shore
“Yet Sir Edmund Vale, an obsequious courtier who praised every royal judgment, insisted that even modest change would insult the Crown.”
— from the passage Seven Votes at Dawn
Synonyms for obsequious
Other words for obsequious — servile, fawning and submissive — carry the same meaning.
Antonyms of obsequious
Words that mean the opposite of obsequious:
- assertive
- independent
- defiant
Where it comes from
From Latin obsequi, meaning 'to comply with or follow.'
Word parts
- sequ/secut — follow
obsequious: ob- (toward) + sequ (follow) + -ious
Memory hook
OBSEQUIOUS follows someone in sequence, always trying to please.
Practice obsequious in the app