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servile

 - 3 dictionary results

ser⋅vile

  [sur-vil, -vahyl]
Use servile in a Sentence
–adjective
1. slavishly submissive or obsequious; fawning: servile flatterers.
2. characteristic of, proper to, or customary for slaves; abject: servile obedience.
3. yielding slavishly; truckling (usually fol. by to).
4. extremely imitative, esp. in the arts; lacking in originality.
5. being in slavery; oppressed.
6. of, pertaining to, or involving slaves or servants.
7. of or pertaining to a condition of servitude or property ownership in which a person is held as a slave or as partially enslaved: medieval rebellions against servile laws.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME < L servīlis, equiv. to serv- (s. of servīre to be a slave) + -īlis -ile

Related forms:
ser⋅vile⋅ly, adverb
ser⋅vil⋅i⋅ty, ser⋅vile⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
1, 2. cringing, sycophantic. 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. 2. mean, base, low.

Antonyms:
1. aggressive. 2. exalted.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To servile
ser·vile   (sûr'vəl, -vīl')   
adj.  

  1. Abjectly submissive; slavish.

    1. Of or suitable to a slave or servant.

    2. Of or relating to servitude or forced labor.


[Middle English, from Latin servīlis, from servus, slave.]
ser'vile·ly adv., ser'vile·ness, ser·vil'i·ty (sər-vĭl'ĭ-tē) n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

servile 
1382, from L. servilis "of a slave, servile," from servus "slave" (see serve). Earliest sense was legal, servile work being forbidden on the Sabbath; sense of "cringing, fawning" first recorded 1605.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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