sycophancy
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.84 in modern English
25
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The tendency of a language model to produce answers that flatter or agree with a user’s beliefs or biases rather than giving accurate or truthful information, or to give strategically false answers when it infers that it is being evaluated in terms of alignment.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "I have always been taken aback at the high number of people in whom an astonishingly high income led to additional sycophancy as they became more dependent on their clients and employers and more addicted to making even more money."
- "“I don’t want to get myself into trouble,” he added, “but she’s very, she’s a great woman.” Victoria [Starmer] looked a little creeped out. Her husband might be a master Trump-wrangler, an expert at sycophancy and genuflection, but she wasn’t."
Etymology
From Latin sȳcophantia, from Ancient Greek σῡκοφᾰντῐ́ᾱ (sūkophăntĭ́ā), equivalent to sycophant + -cy.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: sȳcophantia, σῡκοφᾰντῐ́ᾱ