obsequious Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective satellite attempting to win favor from influential people by flattery
    toadyish; bootlicking; fawning; sycophantic.
  2. adjective satellite attentive in an ingratiating or servile manner
    • obsequious shop assistants

WordNet

Ob*se"qui*ous adjective
Etymology
L.obsequiosus, fr. obsequium compliance, fr. obsequi, fr. obsequi: cf. F. obséquieux, See Obsequent, and cf. Obsequy.
Definitions
  1. Promptly obedient, or submissive, to the will of another; compliant; yielding to the desires of another; devoted. Obs.
    His servants weeping, Obsequious to his orders, bear him hither. Addison.
  2. Servilely or meanly attentive; compliant to excess; cringing; fawning; as, obsequious flatterer, parasite.
    There lies ever in "obsequious" at the present the sense of an observance which is overdone, of an unmanly readiness to fall in with the will of another. Trench.
  3. See Obsequy. Of or pertaining to obsequies; funereal. R. "To do obsequious sorrow." Shak. Syn. -- Compliant; obedient; servile. See Yielding.

Webster 1913