obsequious
ub-SEE-kwee-usadjMeaning too eager to please or obey someone
Memory hook OB-SEQU: FOLLOWS the queen, bowing. Victor follows the queen everywhere, bowing low and crying, “Anything, Your Majesty! Anything!” That much eagerness to please is obsequious.
The obsequious waiter refilled our glasses every thirty seconds and laughed at every joke.
In context A helpful assistant is a gift, but Victor was obsequious: he bowed whenever the boss walked by, agreed with everything she said and even held an umbrella over her on sunny days.
Similar groveling, toadying, sycophantic, slavish
Opposite insolent, defiant, independent
From Latin obsequiosus, “compliant,” from obsequi (to comply): ob- (toward) + sequi (to follow).