arse-licking
Craven boot-polishing behavior
Arse-licking is obsequious flattery—excessive praise or servile behavior aimed at gaining favor from someone in power.
The image is crude: putting one's tongue to another's backside.
A person who does this is an arse-licker.
He got the promotion through sheer arse-licking.
The term is British; Americans prefer ass-kissing.
Servile flattery for advantage
- brown-nosingObsequious flattery for favor
- fawningExcessive insincere flattery
- toadyingObsequious behavior seeking favor
- grovelingDemeaning self-abasement before another
flattery · obsequiousness · kowtowing · ingratiating · apple-polishing · crawling · servility · smarmy
Preferential treatment of some
- nepotismPreferring kin in hiring
- cronyismFavoring friends in appointments
- managementOrganizing and directing resources
- superiorHigher in rank
subordinate · raise · ladder-climbing · networking · quid-pro-quo
bootlicking
Servile flattery for advantage
- brown-nosingObsequious flattery for favor
- fawningExcessive insincere flattery
- toadyingObsequious behavior seeking favor
groveling · flattery · obsequiousness · kowtowing · ingratiating · apple-polishing · crawling · servility · smarmy · unctuous
favoritism
Preferential treatment of some
- nepotismPreferring kin in hiring
- cronyismFavoring friends in appointments
- managementOrganizing and directing resources
superior · subordinate · raise · ladder-climbing · networking · quid-pro-quo
arse-lickingcandor
Unguarded truthfulness
sincerity · straight talk · bluntness · telling it like it is · forthrightness
arse-lickingdefiance
Open resistance to authority
insubordination · rebellion · dissent · independence · resistance
arse, lick, arses, arsed, licks, licked, licking, licker, lickers