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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.

See Examples For:

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

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

The need to kowtow seems to have scarred Torres.

From New York Times ● Feb. 29, 2024

Or would Miss Love do like Mama and kowtow to Loma for the sake of peace in the family?

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns

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

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

Next, is kowtowing, accommodating and acquiescing to the whims and ego of that aging superstar or find yourself gone before your tenure is up.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2024

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




Vocabulary lists containing kowtow


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