curry favour
Butter someone up
To curry favour is to seek approval or advancement through flattery, obsequiousness, or excessive attentiveness to someone in power: He curried favour with the boss by laughing at every joke.
The phrase comes from a medieval French satire about grooming a horse named Fauvel, symbol of duplicity—though most speakers today simply understand it as strategic ingratiation.
- kowtowExcessive deference shown physically
- truckleDefer obsequiously
- suck upFlatter for advantage
- panderGratify unworthy tastes
- bootlickFlatter servilely for gain
kiss the ring · suck up to · fawn · ingratiate · toady · obsequiousness · court · sycophancy · schmooze · sweet-talk · brown-nose · blandish · kiss up · lay it on thick · soft-soap · flatter · grovel · adulate
curry favourantagonize
Incite hostility in
alienate · offend · provoke · burn bridges · repel
curry favourspeak truth to power
Criticize those in charge
tell it like it is · speak plainly · speak one's mind · call a spade a spade · not mince words
curry favourspeak truth to power
Criticize those in charge
stand up to · challenge · resist · rebel
curry, favour, favor, favourable, favorable, unfavourable, unfavorable, favourably, favorably