mutual admiration society
2
7.4
- noun
:
sociedad de admiración mutua
- Without either of us realizing, we had created a mutual admiration society around our shared interests.
Examples
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Silverman refers to "the mutual admiration society that is today's literary culture."
Blog text (27) -
But if you ask the owners, the mutual admiration society becomes active, as they all think they are so grand.
Blog text (22) -
They formed a mutual admiration society with the American left.
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Thus, despite the mutual admiration society aspect, the declarations of both presidents were marked by a high degree of realism.
Academic text (1991) -
And of course, it's a mutual admiration society, with Jen saying, "I'm very excited at the idea of working with Dior and wearing Raf Simons' new creations."
Blog text (31) -
We're members of a mutual admiration society that celebrates each other's achievements.
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In their mutual admiration society, compliments flew freely, making everyone feel appreciated.
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
mutual + admiration + society
The components 'mutual' (shared), 'admiration' (respect) and 'society' (a group) combine straightforwardly to yield 'a group that admires each other', so a B1 learner who knows the parts can infer the core meaning. The sarcastic or self-congratulatory nuance is an extra pragmatic layer that may require exposure, but the basic compositional sense is directly predictable from the constituents.
Etymology
Mutual admiration society gives a simple picture: a small society where everyone shows admiration to each other, so the praise is mutual, like people standing in a circle clapping for one another. That's why it means 'a group that praises each other, often too much'.