Flattering

How to spell flattering

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce flattering

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does flattering mean?

1. adjectiveShowing someone or something to advantage, or expressing pleasing praise.
2. verbPresent participle of flatter: praising someone excessively, often insincerely, to win favour.

Flattering in a sentence

• adjective

  The soft lighting in the studio was very flattering to every portrait.

• verb

  He kept flattering the manager in the hope of a quick promotion.

• adjective

  She received a flattering review of her first novel in the weekend paper.

• verb

  By flattering the client constantly, the salesman lost all credibility.

Where does flattering come from?

Language of origin: French

This word grows from the verb 'flatter', which English took from the Old French 'flater', meaning to fawn upon, to coax, or to stroke and caress. That French verb is thought to come from a Frankish root tied to the idea of something 'flat', so the original picture is of smoothing or stroking a surface with the flat of the hand, the way one might soothe an animal. From this physical sense of gentle stroking grew the figurative sense of soothing a person with pleasing, often insincere, praise. The form 'flattering' is simply the present participle pressed into service as an adjective, and by the 1600s it carried both the unfavourable sense of empty praise and the friendlier sense of showing someone to good advantage. The doubled 't' is the usual spelling trap: the short vowel in 'flat' forces the consonant to double before '-er' and again before '-ing'.

How the word is built

• flatter (to praise excessively, or to make look attractive)
• -ing (present participle / adjective suffix)