ingratiate

“If you’re gonna ingratiate yourself into the community, the first steps are the biggest ones, so having someone reluctantly sell to you is not the way to go,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

This was a way to further ingratiate himself to the man who called him “Johnny.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

Separately, Mr Hampshire also reflected on his worries about people trying to ingratiate themselves with Andrew "in order to make excessive money out the Duke or their association with him".

From BBC ● Apr. 4, 2025

During their first meeting as part of a new company-wide mentorship program, Samuel matches Romy’s slippery intensity, and his reluctance to ingratiate himself intrigues her.

From Salon ● Dec. 30, 2024

The Steward was the superior, but the Butler had more opportunities to ingratiate himself with the Scholars, and made full use of them.

From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman

“He ingratiated himself knowing that one day, he could use that information to defraud clients of thousands of dollars, eventually totaling in the millions,” Savery said Monday in a Santa Ana courtroom.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2026

The fans ingratiated themselves to the locals so much that the Mayor of Boston, Michelle Wu, now plans to formalise an international partnership between the city and Glasgow.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

In a series of maneuvers fit for a John le Carré story, Mercader slowly ingratiated himself into the Trotsky household.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026

Oil companies have ingratiated themselves to investors since the pandemic by doing the exact opposite: ruling out expensive investments in new drilling in favor of spending that money on bigger dividends.

From Barron's ● Jan. 9, 2026

Either way, you'll have ingratiated yourselves with the king.

From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz

But Garry—as enacted by Mr. Warren-Smith, whose double-barreled surname wouldn’t suit the lowdown lunacy Garry gets up to—is a warmly ingratiating performer.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

"I really enjoyed the way that Stagg was not interested in ingratiating himself with anybody," he told BBC Culture correspondent David Sillito, calling him "a real fish out of water in this situation".

From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026

He would begin a performance with Glass at the piano, bestowing an ingratiating quality of quiet pleasure on Ginsberg’s flowery imagery.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026

Thus far, he seems to have done a terrible job of ingratiating himself to others: Most recently, the office’s top criminal prosecutor resigned rather than follow his allegedly improper orders.

From Slate ● Feb. 20, 2025

I heard the alley door open and Willemse’s voice, smooth and ingratiating.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom