servile

[ sur-vil, -vahyl ]

adjective

1. slavishly submissive or obsequious; fawning:

   servile flatterers.

   Synonyms: obsequious

   Antonyms: insubordinate

2. characteristic of, proper to, or customary for slaves; abject:

   servile obedience.

   Synonyms: lowly, humble, obedient

   Antonyms: superior, lordly, disobedient

3. yielding slavishly; truckling (usually followed by to ).
4. extremely imitative, especially in the arts; lacking in originality.
5. being in slavery; oppressed.
6. of, relating to, or involving slaves or servants.
7. of or relating to a condition of servitude or property ownership in which a person is held in slavery or partially enslaved:

   medieval rebellions against servile laws.

servile

/ ˈsɜːvaɪl; sɜːˈvɪlɪtɪ /

adjective

1. obsequious or fawning in attitude or behaviour; submissive
2. of or suitable for a slave
3. existing in or relating to a state of slavery
4. whenpostpositive, foll by to submitting or obedient

Derived Forms

• ˈservilely, adverb
• servility, noun

Other Words From

• ser·vile·ly adverb
• ser·vil·i·ty [sur-, vil, -i-tee], ser·vile·ness noun
• non·ser·vile adjective
• non·ser·vile·ly adverb
• o·ver·ser·vile adjective
• o·ver·ser·vile·ly adverb
• pseu·do·ser·vile adjective
• pseu·do·ser·vile·ly adverb
• un·ser·vile adjective
• un·ser·vile·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of servile¹

First recorded in 1400–50; Middle English servil(e), serville, from Latin servīlis “of a slave, slavish, servile,” equivalent to serv- (stem of servus “slave”) + -īlis -ile; serf ( def )

Word History and Origins

Origin of servile¹

C14: from Latin servīlis, from servus slave

Synonym Study

Servile, menial, obsequious, slavish characterize one who behaves like a slave or an inferior. Servile suggests cringing, fawning, and abject submission: servile responses to questions. Menial applies to that which is considered undesirable drudgery: the most menial tasks. Obsequious implies the ostentatious subordination of oneself to the wishes of another, either from fear or from hope of gain: an obsequious waiter. Slavish stresses the dependence and labori-ous toil of one who follows or obeys without question: slavish attentiveness to orders.

Example Sentences

The “truth” that the film claims to reveal is that there was a “genocide” of Pandits in the 1990s, hidden by a callous ruling establishment and a servile media.

From Time

I really wanted to show how people of color in servile positions to a largely homogenous group of people, when that’s your employment, you’re not allowed to say what you think always.

From Time

For India’s mostly servile media, this is a striking break from the usual after seven years of Modi.

From Time

Julie Andrews played Cinderella—neat as a new pin and not remotely servile.

From Time

Women were better at carrying heavy loads because their heads were harder and stronger, the Arapesh would say, not because women were naturally suited to servile tasks.

From Nautilus

Where Don is confident and arrogant, Bob is servile and accommodating.

From The Daily Beast

They are not permitted to speak of that period of colonial history when they were ruled as a servile caste by a Tutsi elite.

From The Daily Beast

In memory, he was reviled as a servile race traitor, a cringing sycophant to white wealth and power.

From The Daily Beast

I found that I reverted to a housewife stereotype as servile as my grandma.

From The Daily Beast

It is only the servile adulation of later writers that has pictured Bruce as animated by patriotism.

From Project Gutenberg

This he promptly did, and in almost servile language withdrew all the opinions to which the fathers had objected.

From Project Gutenberg

From the freedom of nature it sinks into a servile copyism which can hardly be called art at all.

From Project Gutenberg

Gospodin Berkman—somehow it echoed the servile barinya with which the domestics used to address my mother.

From Project Gutenberg

Would those silly men, those servile votaries of fortune, those effete courtiers, have said this a week ago?

From Project Gutenberg