词汇对比与辨析
核心差别
adulatory 强调形容过分赞美或奉承的，flattering 则侧重形容某事或某人过分赞美或讨好
使用场景对比
| 对比方面 | adulatory | flattering |
|---|---|---|
| 核心含义 | 形容过分赞美或奉承的，通常带有不真诚或夸张的意味，用于描述言语或行为。 | 形容某事或某人过分赞美或讨好，以取悦他人，常带有虚伪或不真诚的意味。 |
| 词性 | 形容词 | 形容词 |
| 使用语域 | 常用于描述人或其行为，如 'adulatory remarks' 或 'adulatory tone'，强调过度或不真诚的赞美。 | 常用于描述事物或行为，如“It's flattering that...”或“find something flattering”，强调赞美带来的愉悦感，但可能暗示不真实。 |
对比例句
Her adulatory comments about the movie made it sound perfect, but I found it boring.
她对这部电影的过分赞美让它听起来完美无缺，但我却觉得它很无聊。
He always uses an adulatory tone when talking to his boss, which seems insincere.
他和老板说话时总是用奉承的语气，这显得很不真诚。
She wore a dress that was very flattering to her shape.
她穿了一件非常显身材的裙子。
It's flattering when people say I look younger than my age.
当人们说我看起来比实际年龄年轻时，这很讨人喜欢。
常见误用提醒
使用 adulatory：He gave an adulatory speech to praise her. → He gave an adulatory speech praising her. (错误在于使用了 'to praise' 作为不定式，而 'adulatory' 本身已包含赞美之意，应直接跟动名词或名词短语，如 'praising her' 或 'in praise of her'，以避免冗余。)
使用 adulatory：She is adulatory because she likes him. → She is adulatory towards him because she admires him excessively. (错误在于句子不完整，'adulatory' 通常需要介词如 'towards' 或 'of' 来指明对象，且应说明过度或不真诚的赞美原因，以符合词义。)
使用 flattering：He is flattering to me. → He is flattering me. (错误：误用介词“to”表示动作对象。正确：应使用及物动词结构“flatter someone”，直接接宾语，表示赞美某人。)