servile
2
8.4
- adjective
- /ˈsɜrvəl/
:
servil
- The workers were trapped in servile conditions, performing menial tasks without any hope of advancement.
- servile status
- servile labor
- servile origins
Examples
-
If cheap labor means servile labor, it is a burlesque on the policy of emancipation.
Academic text (2003) -
Only works that addressed the middling sort advised against a servile demeanor before others.
Academic text (1996) -
And so yeah, it's, it's the attempt to gradually turn the population to be completely servile economically.
-
And my objection isn't to doing "servile" work; it's to someone not being taught anything else.
Blog text (34) -
Many persons of servile origins today own camels and enjoy prosperity.
Academic text (1992) -
From people of servile origins, nobles used to demand and receive deference and certain privileges.
Academic text (1992) -
Residents of this oasis formerly stood in a servile relationship to the nobles of the caravanning village.
Academic text (1992) -
Changes in attitudes of servile populations toward the noble elite reflect a mismatch between perceptions.
Academic text (1992) -
He had a servile attitude, always eager to please his boss and never voicing his own opinions.
-
In some cultures, servile roles were assigned to those deemed unworthy of leadership or respect.
Synonyms
14
7.6
Too willing to obey and please people with power
Being like a person forced to obey and work without freedom
Like a person forced to work for a landowner with little pay and no freedom
Antonyms
How Servile
Surface Forms
Morphology
servile = servant (semi-transparent) = serv + ile
The adjective is recognizably related to 'servant'/'slave' (relating to slaves or servants), but '-ile' is a borrowed/formal suffix and the historical sense (specifically 'of slaves') may not be fully obvious to learners.
Etymology
The word servile comes from the Latin root serv- from servus, which means 'slave', and it is the same root in familiar words like serve and servant. So servile originally meant 'of a slave', which is why it still describes things that relate to slaves or are 'fit for a servant'.