bowing and scraping
Obsequious physical submission
Bowing and scraping describes excessively deferential behavior—the kind of fawning, obsequious conduct that suggests servility rather than genuine respect.
The phrase evokes old-fashioned gestures of submission: bending at the waist while scraping a foot backward.
It's almost always disparaging: I'm tired of all this bowing and scraping to management.
The suggestion is that such deference is undignified or undeserved.
Servile eagerness to please
- sycophancyObsequious behavior toward authority
- fawningExcessive insincere flattery
- grovelingDemeaning self-abasement before another
- toadyingObsequious behavior seeking favor
kowtowing · bootlicking · brown-nosing · apple-polishing · crawling · cringing · prostration · subservience
obsequiousness
Servile eagerness to please
- sycophancyObsequious behavior toward authority
- fawningExcessive insincere flattery
- grovelingDemeaning self-abasement before another
toadying · kowtowing · bootlicking · brown-nosing · apple-polishing · crawling · cringing · prostration · subservience · deference
- sycophancyfawning, toadying, groveling, kowtowing, brown-nosing
bowing and scrapingstanding tall
Remaining proudly upright
defiance · dignity · pride · self-respect · insolence
bowing and scrapingswagger
Confident, boastful manner
strutting · looking down one's nose · condescension · high-handedness · presumption
bowing and scrapingstanding tall
Remaining proudly upright
assertiveness · self-assertion · confidence · boldness · self-assurance