ROGET'S THESAURUS OF ENGLISH WORDS AND PHRASES ...

eplaster † , beslaver † ; lay it on thick, overpraise; earwig, cog, collogue † ; truckle to, pander
to, pandar to † , suck up to, kiss the ass of [Vulg.], pay court to; court; creep into the good
graces of, curry favor with, hang on the sleeve of; fool to the top of one's bent; lick the
dust.
lay the flattering unction to one's soul, gild the pill, make things pleasant.
overestimate &c 482; exaggerate &c 549.
Adj. flattering &c v.; adulatory; mealy-mouthed, honey-mouthed; honeyed; smooth,
smooth-tongued; soapy, oily, unctuous, blandiloquent † , specious; fine-spoken, fair
spoken; plausible, servile, sycophantic, fulsome; courtierly † , courtier-like.
Adv. ad captandum [Lat.].
934. Detraction -- N. detraction, disparagement, depreciation, vilification, obloquy,
scurrility, scandal, defamation, aspersion, traducement, slander, calumny, obtrectation † ,
evil-speaking, backbiting, scandalum magnatum [Lat.].
personality, libel, lampoon, skit, pasquinade; chronique scandaleuse [Fr.]; roorback
[U.S.].
sarcasm, cynicism; criticism (disapprobation) 932; invective &c 932; envenomed
tongue; spretae injuria formae [Lat.].
personality, libel, lampoon, skit, pasquinade; chronique scandaleuse [Fr.]; roorback
[U.S.].
detractor &c 936.
V. detract, derogate, decry, deprecate, depreciate, disparage; run down, cry down;
backcap [U.S.]; belittle; sneer at &c (contempt) 930; criticize, pull to pieces, pick a hole
in one's coat, asperse, cast aspersions, blow upon, bespatter, blacken, vilify, vilipend † ;
avile † ; give a dog a bad name, brand, malign; muckrake; backbite, libel, lampoon,
traduce, slander, defame, calumniate, bear false witness against; speak ill of behind one's
back.
fling dirt &c (disrespect) 929; anathematize &c 932; dip the pen in gall, view in a bad
light.
impugn (disparage the motives of); assail, attack &c 716; oppose &c 708; denounce,
accuse &c 938.
Adj. detracting &c v.; defamatory, detractory † , derogatory, deprecatory; catty;
disparaging, libelous; scurrile, scurrilous; abusive; foul-spoken, foul-tongued, foulmouthed;
slanderous; calumnious, calumniatory † ; sarcastic, sardonic; sarcastic, satirical,
cynical.
critical &c 932.
Phr. damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer; and without sneering, teach the rest to
sneer [Pope]; another lie nailed to the counter; cut men's throats with whisperings [B.
Jonson]; foul whisperings are abroad [Macbeth]; soft-buzzing slander [Thomson];
virtue itself 'scapes not calumnious strokes [Hamlet].
935. Flatterer -- N. flatterer, adulator; eulogist, euphemist; optimist, encomiast, laudator
[Lat.], whitewasher.
toady, toadeater † ; sycophant, courtier, Sir Pertinax MacSycophant; flaneur [Fr.],
proneur [Fr.]; puffer, touter † , claqueur [Fr.]; clawback † , earwig, doer of dirty work;
parasite, hanger-on &c (servility) 886.