La adulación o lisonja es una alabanza baja e interesada, hecha con estudio de lo que se cree que puede halagar al otro, con propósito de ganarse su voluntad para fines interesados. La adulación es tan antigua como el mundo y ejemplo evidente de ella en tiempos modernos es la célebre frase de Luis XIV «L'État, c'est moi» («El estado soy yo»), fruto de las más desatinadas adulaciones de los cortesanos y de no pocos literatos de su época, hasta el extremo de que la Academia propuso un concurso para premiar al que desarrollara mejor la tesis «¿Cuál es la más admirable de las virtudes de Luis XIV?» que el rey tuvo el buen sentido de mandar retirar. La adulación así rodea a los monarcas como se utiliza por los demagogos para su medro personal. No debe confundirse la adulación con el aplauso al verdadero mérito ni con la galantería.

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Flattery (also called adulation or blandishment) is the act of giving excessive compliments, generally for the purpose of ingratiating oneself with the subject. Historically, flattery has been used as a standard form of discourse when addressing a king or queen. In the Renaissance, it was a common practice among writers to flatter the reigning monarch, as Edmund Spenser flattered Queen Elizabeth I in The Faerie Queene, William Shakespeare flattered King James I in Macbeth and Niccolò Machiavelli flattered Lorenzo II de' Medici in The Prince. Flattery is also used in pick-up lines when attempting to initiate romantic courtship. Most associations with flattery, however, are negative. Negative descriptions of flattery range at least as far back in history as The Bible. In the Divine Comedy, Dante depicts flatterers wading in human excrement, stating that their words were the equivalent of excrement, in the 8th Circle of Hell. An insincere flatterer is a stock character in many literary works. Examples include Wormtongue from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Goneril and Regan from King Lear, and Iago from Othello. Historians and philosophers have paid attention to flattery as a problem in ethics and politics. Plutarch wrote an essay on "How to Tell a Flatterer from a Friend." Julius Caesar was notorious for his flattery. In his Praise of Folly, Erasmus commended flattery because it "raises downcast spirits, comforts the sad, rouses the apathetic, stirs up the stolid, cheers the sick, restrains the headstrong, brings lovers together and keeps them united." "To flatter" is also used to refer to artwork or clothing that makes the subject or wearer appear more attractive, as in: \n* The King was pleased with the portrait, as it was very flattering of his girth. \n* I think I'll wear the green dress because it flatters my legs.

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