kowtow
Example Sentences
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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
He’s also asking for more streamlining in zoning to combat the rampant NIMBYism that prevents more shelters and interim housing, and that some elected leaders kowtow to on a regular basis.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 18, 2022
"They expect to be treated with respect... and they don't expect institutions to kowtow to the United States."
From BBC ● Dec. 22, 2021
The little girl threw herself on the ground in a trembling kowtow before the beast.
From "Where the Mountain Meets the Moon" by Grace Lin
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
“They kowtowed to this apparent superstar with poor results.”
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 31, 2024
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
What would have been really offensive to a lot of us is if he had quietly kowtowed to the establishment and said nothing.
From New York Times ● Jan. 14, 2017
He always made a great show of waiting on the Tates; he kowtowed to my parents when they came in.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
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
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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