obsequious
/əbˈsiːkwi.əs/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.14 in modern English
21
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
4
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Excessively eager and attentive to please or to obey instructions; fawning, subservient, servile.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "Our ladies were situated as well as it was possible; they had good servants, splendid rooms, obsequious attendants, and had become habituated to the country, so that the loss of the Count was not any thing of moment beyond the pleasure of his society;[…]"
- "[…] the ſuruiuer bound / In filliall obligation for ſome tearme To doe obſequious ſorrowe […]"
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).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *sekʷ-, obsequyous, obsequiōsus
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /əbˈsiːkwi.əs/
- British English: /əbˈsiːkwi.əs/
Usage
Inflected Forms
more obsequious (comparative)
most obsequious (superlative)