Adulation is praise so extreme it goes beyond what is deserved. Public adulation, bask in the adulation, adulation of the crowd.
The excess is the definition, so the word is always at least slightly critical of the people giving it. The Latin behind it means to fawn, and it first described a dog wagging its tail.
1nounadulationPraise so extreme it goes beyond what is deserved.
“The young footballer found it hard to cope with the adulation of the fans.”
adulation is a praise.
Latin adulatio means fawning, first used of a dog wagging its tail.
Latin
adulātio — flattery
French
adulation
English, today
adulation
From French adulation, from Latin adulātio (“flattery”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA