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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

me·ni·al

Audio Help [mee-nee-uh

l, meen-yuh

l] Pronunciation Key

–adjective

1.	lowly and sometimes degrading: menial work.

2.	servile; submissive: menial attitudes.

3.	pertaining to or suitable for domestic servants; humble: menial furnishings.

–noun

4.	a domestic servant.

5.	a servile person.

[Origin: 1350–1400; ME meynyal < AF me(i)nial. See meiny, -al¹

]

—Related forms

me·ni·al·ly, adverb

—Synonyms 2. fawning. See servile. 4. attendant, underling, hireling, lackey.

—Antonyms 1. dignified. 2. proud.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
menial

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

me·ni·al Audio Help (mē'nē-əl, mēn'yəl) Pronunciation Key
adj.

Of or relating to work or a job regarded as servile.
Of, relating to, or appropriate for a servant.

A servant, especially a domestic servant.
A person who has a servile or low nature.

[Middle English meinial, belonging to a household, from Anglo-Norman meignial, from meignee, household, from Vulgar Latin *mānsiōnāta, from Latin mānsiō, mānsiōn-, house; see mansion.]

me'ni·al·ly adv.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
menial

1387, "pertaining to a household," from Anglo-Fr. meignial, from O.Fr. mesnie "household," earlier mesnede, from V.L. *mansionata, from L. mansionem "dwelling" (see mansion). Sense of "lowly, humble, suited to a servant" is first recorded 1673. Noun meaning "domestic servant" is 1388, meynyal.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

menial
adjective
1.	used of unskilled work (especially domestic work) [syn: humble]
noun
1.	a domestic servant

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Menial

Man"sion\, n. [OF. mansion, F. maison, fr. L. mansio a staying, remaining, a dwelling, habitation, fr. manere, mansum, to stay, dwell; akin to Gr. ?. Cf. Manse, Manor, Menagerie, Menial, Permanent.]

1. A dwelling place, -- whether a part or whole of a house or other shelter. [Obs.]

In my Father's house are many mansions. --John xiv. 2.

These poets near our princes sleep, And in one grave their mansions keep. --Den?am.

2. The house of the lord of a manor; a manor house; hence: Any house of considerable size or pretension.

3. (Astrol.) A twelfth part of the heavens; a house. See 1st House, 8. --Chaucer.

4. The place in the heavens occupied each day by the moon in its monthly revolution. [Obs.]

The eight and twenty mansions That longen to the moon. --Chaucer.

Mansion house, the house in which one resides; specifically, in London and some other cities, the official residence of the Lord Mayor. --Blackstone.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Menial

Mein"e\, Meiny \Mein"y\,, n. [OF. maisni['e]e, maisnie. See Menial.]

1. A family, including servants, etc.; household; retinue; train. [Obs.] --Chaucer. Shak.

2. Company; band; army. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

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