kowtow

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.

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

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

Tributary states sent semi-regular missions to the Chinese imperial court to acknowledge the superiority of the Chinese emperor and perform rituals of submission, known as the kowtow.

From Salon • Feb. 13, 2021

The kowtow meant prostrating oneself before the emperor or a patriarch and knocking one’s head on the ground.

From New York Times • Jun. 20, 2020

The entitlement that came with being one of the silk feathered hats—that all the groundlings were there simply to kowtow to your every need.

From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon