INGRATIATING

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does ingratiating mean? 

• INGRATIATING (adjective)
  The adjective INGRATIATING has 2 senses:

1. capable of winning favor

2. calculated to please or gain favor

  Familiarity information: INGRATIATING used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INGRATIATING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Capable of winning favor

Context example:

with open arms and an ingratiating smile

Similar:

pleasing (giving pleasure and satisfaction)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Calculated to please or gain favor

Synonyms:

ingratiating; ingratiatory; insinuating

Context example:

a smooth ingratiating manner

Similar:

flattering (showing or representing to advantage)

 Context examples 

I may have remarked before that Holmes had, when he liked, a peculiarly ingratiating way with women, and that he very readily established terms of confidence with them.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She seemed to smile at him, showing her teeth in an ingratiating rather than a menacing way.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I do not know whether he has any design of ingratiating himself with either of us, Harriet, by additional softness, but it strikes me that his manners are softer than they used to be.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

And the lock of hair—that too I had always carried about me in the same pocket-book, which was now searched by Madam with the most ingratiating virulence,—the dear lock—all, every memento was torn from me.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)