handmaiden
Britishnoun
-
a person or thing that serves a useful but subordinate purpose
logic is the handmaid of philosophy
-
archaic a female servant or attendant
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They were joined by "handmaiden" Kaura Taylor, from Texas, who calls herself Asnat.
From BBC • Sep. 12, 2025
For more than three decades after its creation in 1913, the Fed was largely a handmaiden of the U.S.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 27, 2025
Reddit’s latest and perhaps greatest financial play is to become a handmaiden to our emerging A.I. overlords.
From Slate • Dec. 27, 2024
Sophia, the nurse, and Jacobo, the apprentice, and her handmaiden, Amelia.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 30, 2022
The allegiances shifted: the handmaiden of chromatin was suddenly its queen.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
