menial
Americanadjective
adjective
-
consisting of or occupied with work requiring little skill, esp domestic duties such as cleaning
-
of, involving, or befitting servants
-
servile
noun
-
a domestic servant
-
a servile person
Related Words
See servile.
Other Word Forms
- menially adverb
- nonmenial adjective
- nonmenially adverb
- unmenial adjective
- unmenially adverb
Etymology
Origin of menial
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English meynyal, from Anglo-French me(i)nial; see meiny, -al 1
Explanation
A menial task is anything that takes very little training, skill, or talent. Some people find it relaxing to do the menial chore of folding laundry. Go figure. The adjective menial comes from an Old French word, mensie, which means “household.” Many chores that get labeled as menial are domestic, but other jobs outside of the home are sometimes also considered menial: stuffing envelopes, data processing, repetitive assembly line work, brain surgery (OK, that last one is not considered menial; we were just checking to see if you were awake).
Vocabulary lists containing menial
The Handmaid's Tale
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Their Eyes Were Watching God
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Born a Crime
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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.
While robots may be able to take over menial tasks, humans will be needed to supervise and repair complex fleets.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 12, 2026
Instead, his days are filled with menial tasks or guard duty.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 22, 2025
Luke has been waiting 65 years, doing menial work as a bartender in the Junction, hoping to be reunited with his love.
From Salon • Nov. 27, 2025
Edgerton recalls a moment cut from the film, in which the boss orders all the other workers to settle back into their menial tasks.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 5, 2025
Currently I worked for Kilvin and was given relatively menial jobs at relatively low pay.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
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.
