slavish

[ sley-vish ]

adjective

1. of or befitting a slave:

   slavish subjection.

2. being or resembling a slave; abjectly submissive:

   He was slavish in his obedience.

   Synonyms: sycophantic

   Antonyms: independent

3. base; mean; ignoble:

   slavish fears.

   Antonyms: exalted

4. deliberately imitative; lacking originality:

   a slavish reproduction.

slavish

/ ˈsleɪvɪʃ /

adjective

1. of or befitting a slave
2. being or resembling a slave; servile
3. unoriginal; imitative
4. archaic.
   ignoble

Derived Forms

• ˈslavishness, noun
• ˈslavishly, adverb

Other Words From

• slavish·ly adverb
• slavish·ness noun
• over·slavish adjective
• over·slavish·ly adverb
• over·slavish·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of slavish¹

First recorded in 1555–65; slave + -ish ¹

Synonym Study

See servile.

Example Sentences

DC Comics uses a slavish adherence to the status quo to prevent anything socially progressive from taking place on its pages.

From The Daily Beast

She must whitewash these brown men and women, rid them of their savage, slavish ways, and repaint them in her own image.

From The Daily Beast

Zaks had to find the delicate poise between vivid restating and slavish reenactment.

From The Daily Beast

This is a lie, and only the most slavish of Russian propagandists are claiming otherwise.

From The Daily Beast

His recent opus, “Distorting Russia,” will go down in history as one of the most slavish defenses of Putinism.

From The Daily Beast

The whole movement reached nothing beyond a slavish imitation of Giotto and his immediate followers.

From Project Gutenberg

For she remembered now that but for their slavish devotion they might claim to be her equal.

From Project Gutenberg

She would not save him to live the toilsome, slavish life of the Jews.

From Project Gutenberg

All this goes in, and yet the book cannot be a slavish repeat.

From Project Gutenberg

While confidence in his own abilities freed him from a slavish adherence to facts which could serve no useful purpose.

From Project Gutenberg