as in to curry favor
to use flattery or the doing of favors in order to win approval especially from a superior
a departmental supervisor who apple-polishes shamelessly whenever higher-ups are about
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for apple-polish
Verb
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On top of this, her mother and sister are fussing about her future relationship status, which leads to them plotting some dates for her.—
Tommy Tuberville,
Newsweek,
7 Mar. 2025 -
The world saw this five-man group as an ideal of friendship, a community working and living together, fussing and fighting but making rough beauty out of it.—
Rob Sheffield,
Rolling Stone,
21 Jan. 2025
Verb
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And more than 130 people said their therapist fell asleep during therapy — sometimes going so far as to start drooling or snoring.—
Christina Caron,
New York Times,
20 Feb. 2025
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Art Deco is enticing in art and in theaters, not so much in a home with drooling pets and messy toddlers.—
Amanda Lauren,
Forbes,
19 Dec. 2024
Verb
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In short clips that have reached upward of four million views and 600,000 likes on TikTok, users are fawning over the rising star’s good looks and passionate on-court personality.—
Brendan Le,
People.com,
8 Mar. 2025
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As per usual, the NFL player was in the comment section fawning over the singer and tempting her with a good time.—
Elizabeth Ayoola,
Essence,
7 Mar. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Apple-polish.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/apple-polish. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
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