slavishly submissive or obsequious; fawning: servile flatterers.
2.
characteristic of, proper to, or customary for slaves; abject: servile obedience.
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, 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;Middle English < Latinservīlis, equivalent to serv- (stem of servīre to be a slave) + -īlis-ile
Related forms
ser·vile·ly, adverb
ser·vil·i·ty, ser·vile·ness, noun
non·ser·vile, adjective
non·ser·vile·ly, adverb
non·ser·vile·ness, noun
o·ver·ser·vile, adjective
o·ver·ser·vile·ly, adverb
o·ver·ser·vile·ness, noun
o·ver·ser·vil·i·ty, noun
pseu·do·ser·vile, adjective
pseu·do·ser·vile·ly, adverb
un·ser·vile, adjective
un·ser·vile·ly, adverb
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.
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.