lickspittle

noun

lick·​spit·​tle ˈlik-ˌspi-tᵊl How to pronounce lickspittle (audio)
Synonyms of lickspittle
: a fawning subordinate : toady

Synonyms of lickspittle

Relevance
See All Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus

Examples of lickspittle in a Sentence

a partisan news program whose host is more of a lickspittle for the White House than a serious journalist
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
What happened to the idea that art and culture should be a contemptuous refuge from the mainstream, as opposed to this lickspittle, running dog accommodation to the mainstream? — Billboard Staff, Billboard, 3 June 2022 Such as holding court, choosing your sobriquet, and naming imbecilic lickspittles to our Kingsguard. — Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 7 July 2024 And Washington is revealed once again as our modern Versailles, a place of courtiers and lickspittles who’d use the Ministry of Justice to serve their ambitions. — John Kass, chicagotribune.com, 15 June 2018 Rarely has a president been surrounded by such an array of toadies and lickspittles, operating beyond their competence in an atmosphere of organizational chaos. — Eliot A. Cohen, The Atlantic, 1 Apr. 2026 Firmly in control of the nation’s massive federal apparatus, MAGA and its Republican lickspittles in Congress have thrived on chaos. — Steven Greenhut, Oc Register, 23 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1669, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of lickspittle was in 1669

Rhymes for lickspittle

See All Rhymes for lickspittle

Browse Nearby Words

lickspit
lickspittle
Licnophora
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Lickspittle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lickspittle. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All