Sycophant
n. A servile self-seeker who attempts to win favour by flattering influential people.
From Answers.com
I always wonder what this word means. I guess it’s not used much in the circles I rotate in but it’s in movies. Today I heard it again in Batman Begins: “you sycophantic suck-ups…” Now that I know what it means it seems a bit tautological to say “sycophantic suck-ups”.
I’m not sure what servile means but it doesn’t seem very pertinent to the definition.
I generally use the word sycophant to refer to one who goes out of their way to appear as servile as possible – that is, they don’t only do everything for the person they are trying to influence (that’s the servile bit), but they make sure everyone knows that they are doing everything (that’s the self-seeking bit). Watch The Apprentice for a few minutes, and you’ll see plenty of sycophantic behaviour. Listen out for any sentence that starts with “Mr Trump, I…”
.e
yes it seems a little redundant with saying “you sycophantic suck-ups”. It’s like saying “please repeat that again”