What's the difference between adulation and flattery?

Adulation


Definition:

  • (n.) Servile flattery; praise in excess, or beyond what is merited.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Riva, the oldest nominee ever for best actress category, has a very Gallic disdain for such public adulation.
  • (2) Customers at her plush boutique in central Cairo are offered a choice between chocolates coated with his face and others embossed with messages of adulation.
  • (3) It gave the occasion the feel of a testimonial, although some players warrant such adulation.
  • (4) Feminists, myself included, focused on the killer’s misogyny, his furious sense that women owed him something, that he had a right to whatever pleasure and adulation they could deliver.
  • (5) And in both introducing and summing up the debate, she along with many of her political peers currently receiving all the public adulation of the childcatcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang spoke more intelligently, authoritatively and compassionately about mental health than I've heard from many a professional.
  • (6) Did he heed the global outpouring of adulation that elevated Mandela, who died aged 95 last December, to virtual sainthood?In that moment, did the president of Zimbabwe reflect on his own legacy and the cold judgment of history?
  • (7) Mohammed Samy's message was a succinct model of blind adulation: "Fairouz is my life."
  • (8) We softened up over the years, we have to stop being pussies.” When the Guardian also informs him about Trump’s plan to ban foreign Muslims entering the country, he says: “Sounds good to me.” Two sides to every coin But such signs that Trump is consolidating his advantage, that the more outrageous his pronouncements become the more his followers adulate him, tell only half the story.
  • (9) All issues of sentiment, underdoggery and fairytale glee aside, it is an achievement that deserves at least a slice of the adulation being lavished on the champions-elect.
  • (10) The hit prompted an outpouring of adulation for the Yankees captain, from press and public, and also a rash of conspiracy theories considering the pitch delivered by the Oriole’s Evan Meek.
  • (11) It’s like ‘not a third Bush, not a second Clinton’.” By forming the new group, Sagrans is aiming to harness some of this raw adulation towards a more professionalised outfit that can appeal to Democrats who pull some strings in national politics.
  • (12) Another avalanche of adulation is about to asphyxiate us; with glossy supplements on “The Greatest Reign”, exhibitions in royal palaces selling souvenir albums, and Douglas Hurd’s gushing biography, Elizabeth II: The Steadfast .
  • (13) And, if one is not at the zenith of adulation of the Pacific islanders who believe the Prince to be the penis-gourd-sporting Melanesian Messiah, then, at the very least, the example of Britain's longest-serving monarchal consort is deserving of our – and, more specifically, the Duchess of Cambridge's – interest.
  • (14) And yet the very craving for adulation, the need to chalk up successes, the deep, even cynical, pragmatism also predicted that Trump would have no stomach for Bannon’s reign of terror.
  • (15) Like a Mao in miniature, he seemed both to enjoy and have contempt for the adulation that surrounded him.
  • (16) He was greeted with adulation and reverence by Barack Obama, a joint session of Congress, the United Nations general assembly and, finally, the city of brotherly love.
  • (17) And I don’t believe that he could have coped with the adulation of fans for very long.
  • (18) The adulation in Kosovo is all the more striking for the contrast to its object's reputation in his home country, where, following the invasion of Iraq, the Blair name is a brand so toxic the Labour party goes out of its way to avoid him.
  • (19) The rapper – who performed to screaming adulation with Alicia Keys – became the most successful solo artist in the history of the US Billboard chart, after his 11th album, Blueprint 3, went to number one, surpassing Elvis Presley's record.
  • (20) And how will Aung San Suu Kyi, who has repeatedly said she detests being described as a saint or an icon, cope with the adulation she will receive this week?

Flattery


Definition:

  • (v. t.) The act or practice of flattering; the act of pleasing by artiful commendation or compliments; adulation; false, insincere, or excessive praise.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) But when I started turning up at strategy meetings at 6.45am each day in Millbank Tower, key planners such as Robin Cook and Patricia Hewitt took to going into corridors and lowering their voices, making it obvious that they disapproved of my presence, which they regarded as proof of Kinnock’s fatal susceptibility to flattery.
  • (2) For decades, Iran has fueled the fires of sectarian conflict and terror.” The Saudis read Trump accurately from the time he took office – they understood that he craved flattery and respect.
  • (3) That's because at the root of this pro-censorship case is self-flattery: the idea that one is so intrinsically Good and Noble and Elevated that one is incapable of hatred: only those warped people over there, those benighted souls, are plagued with such poison.
  • (4) Asked about the BBC's new venture, Ed O'Keefe, editor-in-chief of NowThis News, said: "We're blushing – imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, after all.
  • (5) They say that imitation is the best form of flattery.
  • (6) Arab leaders, especially the oil-rich monarchs, are used to flattery since they live with it every day.
  • (7) Read more Hunt didn’t pick this fight , but he’s deploying the strategy of every beleaguered health secretary since Aneurin Bevan: threats, flattery, promises and pledges.
  • (8) Even his exaggerated politeness and flattery comes across as either patronising or false.
  • (9) You could have been a movie star,” says Stone, looking at the screen and playing the flattery card.
  • (10) I think one has to be careful not to succumb to flattery.” Earlier in the day, the House speaker, Paul Ryan, faced several questions pertaining to Trump’s appearance at the foreign policy town hall.
  • (11) This one is said to have belonged to a disciple, the painter Sir Peter Lely, who lavished equal flattery on the court of Charles II.
  • (12) In April, Minecraft received the priceless flattery of a parody on The Simpsons .
  • (13) One of the interesting things about Head of State is how comfortable Marr is with the ways in which information can be extracted – by journalists from politicians, by politicians from journalists, by power-brokers from each other – with a mix of flattery and veiled threat, long memories and manipulation.
  • (14) Asked what he thought of Sky's new Saturday schedule, which will segue from its Football League lunchtime match, to Soccer Saturday, to its new regular teatime live Premier League game and then Football First in front of a studio audience, Watson said: "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."
  • (15) The word from Fleet: 'I don't see Theresa May as another backstabber' Read more You might cling to the butler’s mole theory even as you worry that your hopes are loosening your grip on reality: the powerful faction that wanted to remain, and whispered flattery and enticements in Gove’s ear, has cleared the field of Johnson, the other side’s most powerful contender, and eased one of its own into place as PM.
  • (16) The negative view is the depressing capacity of right-thinking media representatives to tame "extremists", showing that everyone, even the most eccentric dissidents, are susceptible to flattery, inclusion and the kindness of power.
  • (17) Supervisors are alerted to hostile-dependent strategies, such as seductive flattery, that serve immediate ego-protective needs but ultimately block the attainment of fuller professional functioning.
  • (18) The immediate crisis can be traced back directly to Trump’s first trip abroad as president, to Riyadh on 20 May , when he was feted and showered with flattery.
  • (19) The Barcelona president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, continued his club’s flattery of Suárez on Wednesday when praising the forward for publicly apologising for biting the Italy defender despite his initial claim to Fifa that he fell into Chiellini teeth-first.
  • (20) Nobody has ever been as good as Jonathan Ross at straddling this funny-fawning axis, because it is nearly impossible (flattery has to be sincere; jokes have to be not sincere.