servile
3
7.4
- adjective
- /ˈsɜrvəl/
:
sumiso
- The servile behavior of the staff was evident as they fawned over the wealthy guests.
It was seen as being servile, as being something less than what you you ought to be.
- It was seen as being servile, as being something less than what you you ought to be.
- Hopeful we lurch until the ending fishes out a servile soul.
Examples
-
In order for governments to maintain their hegemony, they absolutely need servile, docile taxpayers.
Blog text (12) -
Even decades after The Lone Ranger left ABC, entertainers were still satirizing the servile relationship between Tonto and the Ranger.
Academic text (2013) -
One woman might adopt a servile attitude to authority and teach her children not to make waves.
Academic text (1993) -
There was nothing servile or self-effacing about the way he moved or acted.
Fiction book (1991) -
The Senate was to be nothing more than a servile rubber stamp, an outdated relic there to fawn at his feet and little else.
-
There was an unbroken glint of satisfaction hiding somehow behind her bland acquiescence, her servile tone.
Fiction book (2000) -
But there is a difference between a loyal agent and a fanatical zealot—or a servile puppet.
Academic text (1999) -
Tuareg society is characterized by marked stratification of nobles, tributary groups, blacksmiths, and formerly servile social segments.
Academic text (1992) -
His servile attitude made it hard for him to stand up for his own ideas.
-
She spoke in a servile tone, eager to please her boss and avoid any conflict.
Synonyms
38
5.1
Willing to obey others and not argue
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 Submissive
Surface Forms
Morphology
servile = serve (transparent) = serv + ile
The meaning 'willing to serve or please others' can be readily inferred from the base idea 'serve' (+ the adjectival sense of '-ile'), so learners who know 'serve' or 'servant' can derive this sense.
Etymology
The word servile comes from the Latin servus meaning 'slave', and you can see the same root in common words like serve and servant. That's why servile also came to describe a person who acts like a slave, too ready to obey or please others, so today it often means 'overly submissive'.