kowtow

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

"They expect to be treated with respect... and they don't expect institutions to kowtow to the United States."

From BBC ● Dec. 22, 2021

He’s an American native and a fiercely secular one at that, but the controversy awakens something in him, a stubborn individualism and a refusal to kowtow to ignorance.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2021

But consumer advocates spent decades ruing South Dakota’s choice to kowtow to credit card companies.

From Slate ● Jun. 28, 2021

“And don’t expect me to kowtow to you, mortal, just because old Barnacle-Beard is your father.”

From "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan

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

From New York Times ● Mar. 18, 2023

“I had to do three kowtows to the sun,” Mr. Hunt told The Guardian.

From New York Times ● Nov. 16, 2022

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

From The New Yorker ● Feb. 14, 2019

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

The kings had all thrown themselves into kowtows, each swearing he would return at the Moon Festival with splendid flowers.

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

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

Rolly never acted like he was kowtowing to the boss.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2023

Other males and females exhibit their submission to the alpha male by bowing before him while making grunting sounds, not unlike human subjects kowtowing before a king.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari