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Grovel vs Ingratiate - What's the difference?

grovel | ingratiate |

As verbs the difference between grovel and ingratiate

is that grovel is to be prone on the ground while ingratiate is (reflexive) to bring oneself into favour with someone by flattering or trying to please him or her.

grovel

English

Verb

  • To be prone on the ground.
  • To crawl
  • To abase oneself before another person.
  • To be nice to someone or apologize in the hope of securing something.
  • To take pleasure in mundane activities.
  • Usage notes

    * The spellings grovelling and grovelled are more common in the UK. Groveling and groveled are more common in the US.

    Anagrams

    *

    ingratiate

    English

    Verb

  • (reflexive) To bring oneself into favour with someone by flattering or trying to please him or her.
  • * 1849 , , Shirley , ch. 15:
  • [H]e considered this offering an homage to his merits, and an attempt on the part of the heiress to ingratiate herself into his priceless affections.
  • * 1903 , , The Way of All Flesh , ch. 58:
  • [H]e would pat the children on the head when he saw them on the stairs, and ingratiate himself with them as far as he dared.
  • * 2007 July 9, , " Why Maliki Is Still Around," Time (retrieved 26 May 2014):
  • He ingratiated himself with the Kurdish bloc when he stood up to aggressive Turkish rhetoric about the Kurdish border in May.
  • To recommend; to render easy or agreeable.
  • * , "Sermon XIII" in Miscellaneous Theological Works of Henry Hammond, Volume 3 (1850 edition), p. 283 (Google preview):
  • What difficulty would it [the love of Christ] not ingratiate to us?