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third-person singular simple present ingratiates, present participle ingratiating, simple past and past participle ingratiated
(reflexive) To bring oneself into favour with someone by flattering or trying to please him or her. quotations examples
[H]e considered this offering an homage to his merits, and an attempt on the part of the heiress to ingratiate herself into his priceless affections.
1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter 15, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […]
[H]e would pat the children on the head when he saw them on the stairs, and ingratiate himself with them as far as he dared.
1903, Samuel Butler, chapter 58, in The Way of All Flesh
Her name was Michaela, but the men called her filthy things in dulcet, ingratiating voices, and she giggled with childish joy because she understood no English and thought they were flattering her and making harmless jokes.
1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Eternal City”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, page 433
And it is symptomatic of the many paradoxes of Lederer's life that of all the people in the room, Brotherhood is the one whom he would most wish to serve, if ever he had the opportunity, even though — or perhaps because — his occasional efforts to ingratiate himself with his adopted hero have met with iron rebuff.
1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy
He ingratiated himself with the Kurdish bloc when he stood up to aggressive Turkish rhetoric about the Kurdish border in May.
2007 July 9, Brian T. Bennett, “Why Maliki Is Still Around”, in Time, retrieved 26 May 2014
(followed by to) To recommend; to render easy or agreeable. quotations examples
What difficulty would it [the love of Christ] not ingratiate to us?
c. 1650, Henry Hammond, "Sermon XIII" in Miscellaneous Theological Works of Henry Hammond, Volume 3 (1850 edition), p. 283 (Google preview)
the Sense of this will mightily indear and ingratiate them to us
1686, John Scott, The Christian Life […]