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Showing results for kowtow. Search instead for molotow.
Definitions

kowtow

[kau-tau, -tau, koh-] / ˈkaʊˈtaʊ, -ˌtaʊ, ˈkoʊ- /


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.

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Meanwhile, fan group Unsere Kurve said the DFB should not "kowtow to capital" by allowing Red Bull to keep Klopp on their books.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

For that reason, Iran’s officers may feel no compulsion to kowtow to Beijing.

From Slate ● May 7, 2026

Mighty Miranda must kowtow to the luxury brands and their ambassadors, whose sponsorship keeps Runway strutting, including the once-harried and humiliated Emily, who is now an executive at Dior.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2026

Smaller domestic military budgets also reduce the need for companies to kowtow to politicians by maintaining unprofitable operations in their districts or supporting civilian projects.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 1, 2026

But watching him kowtow to the grocer made me know it wasn’t so.

From "Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High" by Melba Pattillo Beals

The head of the department is a micromanager and everyone kowtows to him.

From New York Times ● Mar. 18, 2023

Even when her voice is high and sweet, she never kowtows.

From The New Yorker ● Feb. 14, 2019

“If he kowtows to anyone, and people stop believing that he’s saying what he means, he’s going to kill the brand.”

From New York Times ● Nov. 20, 2014

And then he watches as Katrina kowtows to the Headless Horseman, in fact saving his life but also showing her shifting allegiance.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2014

Trees bowed in deep kowtows or broke their backs, a series of snaps like firecrackers popping, until one loud, sickening crack added to the cacophony in the sky.

From "When the Sea Turned to Silver" by Grace Lin

It kowtowed to every fashionable agenda to protect its independence.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 8, 2026

Compromised himself in the moment, been less than human, not having to hold on to his dignity so much, and just kowtowed to this guy and got himself home.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 11, 2024

She kowtowed to no one, including many of her fellow intellectuals, black and white.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 30, 2017

David Brent was the personification of what every person loathes about themselves when they inevitably succumb to the workforce—superficial, petty, and incompetent, just like the status quo he kowtowed to.

From Salon ● Apr. 28, 2016

“You’ve scraped and kowtowed enough, Sonny,” she said.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam

Bennett argued presciently that by kowtowing to radicals, “a great university was brought low by the very forces which modern universities came into being to oppose: ignorance, irrationality and intimidation.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 17, 2026

Normally, I wouldn’t suggest kowtowing to the Americans and their strange instance on measuring things their own way.

From Slate ● Nov. 21, 2025

Those early signs of kowtowing were bad indicators that the members of Youngstown State University’s faculty union just couldn’t get behind.

From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2025

"A kowtowing of the East towards the West is not a rising East."

From BBC ● May 1, 2025

I don’t know why, but right then it finally dawned on me that Papa had wanted to please Grandpa out of respect and gratitude, not from kowtowing.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns


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