lackey
20
8.4
- noun
- /ˈlæki/
- Offensive
:
lacayo
- Participants are merely collaborationists, lackeys of the government who are bought off by government prestige and money.
- government lackey
He did not have in place enough lackeys and stooges to pull it off the first time.
- He did not have in place enough lackeys and stooges to pull it off the first time.
- So Malthus is often portrayed as this cruel, inhuman Scrooge or a lackey of the bourgeoisie as Marx called him.
- Where it really turned though, is that Michael had an assistant and I was there and I was like the runner and the office lackey.
- It's their, is it their lackeys or is it rival?
Examples
-
Teodoro is a middle-class man controlled by his employer and by his lackey.
Academic text (2000) -
Or maybe just a lackey to do your bidding, um, change tires.
-
For what is an artist in this world, but a servant... a lackey for the rich and powerful?
-
You were just a paid lackey of a piano player hired to teach a bored wife to keep her fingers busy.
-
Cliff got up, put five bucks on the counter, and he and his lackey walked out the door.
Fiction book (1996) -
I'm not one of your lackey boys, and don't you ever, ever talk to me that way again.
Fiction book (1997) -
Bashar often attacks the Egyptian and Jordanian governments as lackeys of the West.
Academic text (2007) -
Anthropologist Pestrikhov sneers at the simplistic image of Gerasimov as a government lackey in Gorky Park.
Academic text (2003) -
He acted like a lackey, always obeying every command given to him by his boss.
-
The journalist criticized the politician for surrounding himself with sycophants and lackeys who never questioned his decisions.
Synonyms
17
9.3
A person who praises someone important to get favors
16
8.0
A person who runs small errands and obeys a boss
8
9.0
A person who flatters and obeys someone in power to gain favor
5
7.7
A person who praises someone in power to get an advantage
3
9.9
A person who flatters someone in charge to get favors
1
9.9
A person who praises someone in power to get benefits
A person who praises people in charge to get things they want
A person who praises a boss to get a favor
A person at work who praises their boss too much to get favors
A person seen as not important who follows orders
Antonyms
How Obsequious
Surface Forms
Etymology
Lackey comes from the French laquais 'footman' and the Turkish ulak 'messenger', because a lackey used to serve, follow orders, and carry messages for a powerful person. So today lackey is used for someone who obeys or flatters an important person to gain advantage.