Sample sentences for OBSEQUIOUS

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Definition

excessively eager to flatter or serve

In the film, Pretty Woman, Julia Roberts character loved being served by obsequious sales clerks.

obsequious = excessively eager to flatter or serve

She is respectful without being obsequious.
He made his solemn, obsequious bow, and went out.
Maugham, W. Somerset -- Of Human Bondage
McSouthers was not a stupid man; if only he was less obsequious—and less of a gossip.
Ellen Raskin -- The Westing Game

obsequious = excessively eager to flatter or serve

I gave the name Jenks at the podium, and the obsequious maître d' led me upstairs to a small private room with a fire crackling in a stone hearth.
Stephenie Meyer -- Breaking Dawn

obsequious = excessively eager to flatter or serve

His usual hostility had been replaced with a slimy obsequiousness.
Cassandra Clare -- City of Glass

obsequiousness = excessive eagerness to flatter or serve

(Editor's note: The suffix "-ness" converts an adjective to a noun that means the quality of. This is the same pattern you see in words like darkness, kindness, and coolness.)

...the most obsequious and subservient to the will and passions of their master.
Jonathan Swift -- Gulliver's Travels

obsequious = excessively eager to flatter or serve

Although Sir Gilbert had been courteous, almost obsequious, the fabric he represented had in no wise bowed its head.
E.M. Forster -- A Passage to India

obsequious = excessively eager to flatter or serve

At Naoetsu, most of the guards stayed in camp, their haughtiness replaced by gushing obsequiousness.
Laura Hillenbrand -- Unbroken

obsequiousness = excessive eagerness to flatter or serve

(Editor's note: The suffix "-ness" converts an adjective to a noun that means the quality of. This is the same pattern you see in words like darkness, kindness, and coolness.)

The priests approach them, carrying torches, their shaggy white heads bent, obsequious.
John Gardner -- Grendel

obsequious = eager to serve — in an exceedingly humble manner

Although he had no friends he was welcomed by his obsequious class-mates and took up a natural and cold position of leadership in the schoolyard.
John Steinbeck -- East of Eden

obsequious = excessively eager to flatter or serve

I see you are obsequious in your love,
William Shakespeare -- The Merry Wives of Windsor

obsequious = excessively eager to flatter or serve

Yet when I was white, I received the brotherly-love smiles and the privileges from whites and the hate stares or obsequiousness from the Negroes.
John Howard Griffin -- Black Like Me

obsequiousness = excessive eagerness to flatter or serve

(Editor's note: The suffix "-ness" converts an adjective to a noun that means the quality of. This is the same pattern you see in words like darkness, kindness, and coolness.)

I sat at a table where were rich food and wine in abundance, an obsequious attendance, but sincerity and truth were not;
Jon Krakauer -- Into the Wild

obsequious = excessively eager to flatter or serve

The proprietor served him obsequiously but did not venture to talk.
James Joyce -- Dubliners

obsequiously = in a manner that is excessively eager to flatter or serve

The doctor, flattered at this unexpected title, launched out into obsequious phrases.
Gustave Flaubert -- Madame Bovary

obsequious = excessively eager to flatter or serve

'Certainly, Mr Teng,' said the second clerk obsequiously.
Robert Ludlum -- The Bourne Supremacy

obsequiously = eager to flatter or serve

and in obsequious fondness crowd to his presence
William Shakespeare -- Measure for Measure

obsequious = excessively eager to flatter or serve

...he had come out with great obsequiousness to assist at...
Charles Dickens -- A Tale of Two Cities

obsequiousness = excessive eagerness to flatter or serve

(Editor's note: The suffix "-ness" converts an adjective to a noun that means the quality of. This is the same pattern you see in words like darkness, kindness, and coolness.)

A marquis (watching De Guiche, who comes down from Roxane's box, and crosses the pit surrounded by obsequious noblemen)
Edmond Rostand -- Cyrano de Bergerac

obsequious = excessively eager to flatter or serve

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