ingratiate oneself with

ingratiate (oneself) with (someone)

To make an effort to receive someone's favor. I have no desire to ingratiate myself with these rich buffoons, no matter how many swanky doors they can open for me.
See also: ingratiate
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

ingratiate oneself with someone

to work oneself into someone's favor. Why do you have to ingratiate yourself with everyone? Don't you know how to be just plain friends? She was very obvious in her effort to ingratiate herself with the boss.
See also: ingratiate
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • ingratiate (oneself) with (someone)
  • ingratiate oneself into
  • ingratiate
  • ingratiate (oneself) into (something)
  • curry
  • curry favor
  • curry favor with
  • curry favor with (one)
  • curry favor, to
  • curry favour
References in periodicals archive
It could also be that your mentee isn't at all insecure but thinks that self-deprecation is the best way to ingratiate oneself with superiors.
How to break the 'I'm sorry' cycle
In order to ingratiate oneself with Top Execs and secure potential jobs, BC has resorted to badmouthing colleagues.
Sketchy charmer can't fool major star
Lying to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) typically isn't the best way to ingratiate oneself with the federal government and its employees.
UBS escapes tax evader's $1.7 billion lawsuit
Weitzman begins with the premise that, under foreign authorities, "the basic options available to Jews were limited--one could ingratiate oneself with foreign rule, operate within its blind spots, or find a way to augment one's power and fight it off" (p.
Surviving Sacrilege: Cultural Persistence in Jewish Antiquity
The opportunity to ingratiate oneself with customers, to turn a professional relationship into a personal one, calls out to vendors.
What vendors can do for us now: well-marketed certification programs would give everyone a boost. (Quint's Online)
In a desperate attempt to ingratiate oneself with Big Bosses, SP dished out all sorts of sordid rumors about friends, acquaintances, even relatives.
Scandalous personality's rumor-mongering backfires big-time