(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.
Insincere
Definition:
(a.) Not being in truth what one appears to be; not sincere; dissembling; hypocritical; disingenuous; deceitful; false; -- said of persons; also of speech, thought; etc.; as, insincere declarations.
(a.) Disappointing; imperfect; unsound.
Example Sentences:
(1) In a statement, the network added: "The crackdown on activists, being directly related to the anniversary, demonstrates contempt towards international human rights norms and insincerity in the government's own pledges and commitments to promote human rights in China ."
(2) In London, for instance, the insincere granite cladding of Canary Wharf owes much to his example.
(3) The health prospects of Mubarak, who has long been ill, could have a major impact on the volatile internal politics of Egypt , where tensions between pro-reform protesters and the interim authorities – which are accused by some of being too slow in holding the Mubarak regime to account and insincere in their efforts to build democratic institutions – are threatening to bubble over.
(4) Did glossing over his feelings during the interview reveal Prince as insincere or more concerned with selling his album than engaging with real life?
(5) It took two weeks for him to address the issue publicly, while his wife Patience was accused of melodrama smacking of insincerity when she met mothers of the kidnapped girls.
(6) Almost anyone will say an insincere 'sorry' when they hope it will avert the loss of liberty, or a bag of sweets, or even a seat in Parliament."
(7) It’s what happens when weaponised insincerity is applied to structured ignorance.
(8) But to reach those heights and win popular backing, Sisi has been forced to adopt the vocabulary of revolution, however insincerely, and issue promises – on economic justice, an end to corruption, an improvement in living standards – that his unreformed state will not be able to deliver.
(9) Not because either statement is insincere: all writers genuinely want people to read their books and all law-enforcement agencies really believe they need more powers.
(10) All around me were other parents, similarly shouting and cheering at their mostly embarrassed little ones – and after each race triumphant handshakes, sarcastic congratulations and insincere condolences were offered.
(11) "The Daily Express is not in the business of conning our readers with gimmicks and insincere campaigns.
(12) "This seeming refusal to accept that the contents of his emails were in fact sexist and inappropriate to my mind completely undermines his public apology and leads to only one conclusion: that it was insincere and therefore unsustainable in the court of public opinion," he said.
(13) Iain Duncan Smith has accused David Cameron of insincerity and an attempt to deceive the public over EU immigration, as the out campaign stepped up its attacks on the prime minister’s character.
(14) A glance at what Smith has said in the past on certain subjects, and what he is saying about them now, has left him open to the charge of insincerity, and there were a couple of moments when he appeared to trip.
(15) Chief Inspector Ted Antill, of Nottinghamshire police, said: "While this recent example may be amusing, it illustrates the sort of insincere calls we have to deal with on a daily basis in the control room.
(16) Smith and his cronies were kept in power by a combination of white redoubt solidarity in southern Africa, deep divisions among Rhodesian-African tribal groups and guerrilla movements, irresolution in London, inertia and insincerity elsewhere - and a small group of white Rhodesian, South African and British army officers, police, security men and sanctions-busters whose cunning knew no bounds.
(17) Sommer, who volunteered for the Bob Dole campaign as a kid and “reluctantly” voted for George W Bush in 2004, said she found Trump’s gambit early in the 2016 primary race to sit out a debate, to ostentatiously raise money for veterans, to be insincere.
(18) In the preface he wrote: "I do not believe the fable that men read travel books to escape from reality: they read to escape into it, from a crazy wonderland of armaments, cant, political speeches at once insincere and illiterate, propaganda, and social injustice which the lunacy of humanity has constructed over a period of years."
(19) The word "sorry" – even if said insincerely – carries a sense of personal responsibility.
(20) Only last month, his insincere clapping upon being booked against Barcelona swiftly saw him receive his marching orders.