Synonyms

curry favor

Cultural

“Currying favor” with someone means trying to ingratiate oneself by fawning over that person: “The ambassador curried favor with the dictator by praising his construction projects.”

curry favor Idioms

Seek gain or advancement by fawning or flattery, as in Edith was famous for currying favor with her teachers. This expression originally came from the Old French estriller fauvel, “curry the fallow horse,” a beast that in a 14th-century allegory stood for duplicity and cunning. It came into English about 1400 as curry favel —that is, curry (groom with a currycomb) the animal—and in the 1500s became the present term.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Both Paramount and Netflix sought to curry favor with the White House, with Paramount winning out.

From Barron's

Piloting an AI use case, understood as running a small-scale test, used to curry favor with investors.

From The Wall Street Journal

He added, “How can it not be equated with currying favor or an outright bribe? How can that not be the case?”

From Salon

He was sent to Rome in 1488 as a gesture of cultural diplomacy by Lorenzo, who hoped to curry favor from Carafa and thereby secure his vote for his son to become the next pope.

From The Wall Street Journal

Hence, it is reasonable to think they will use January to tidy up their affairs and reset investor expectations to curry favor with Elliott.

From Barron's

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023