Flattery is praise laid on more thickly than is sincere. Shameless flattery, immune to flattery, flattery will get you nowhere.
It works even on people who know exactly what it is, which is the uncomfortable finding of most research on it. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery is a proverb from the nineteenth century. Note flatter, from an Old French verb meaning to stroke.
1nounflatteryPraise laid on more thickly than is sincere.
“He hoped a little flattery about her cooking would get him a second helping.”
flattery is praise.
Old French flaterie comes from flater, to stroke or flatter, probably from a Germanic root meaning to smooth.
Old French
flaterie
Middle English
flaterye
English, today
flattery
Built from
From Middle English flaterye, flaterie, from Old French flaterie, from the verb flater (“to flatter”). by surface analysis, flatter + -y.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA