servile
[ sur-vil, -vahyl ]
/ ˈsɜr vɪl, -vaɪl /
adjective
RELATED WORDS
abject, base, beggarly, craven, cringing, despicable, fawning, humble, ignoble, low, mean, obedient, obeisant, obsequious, passive, slavish, submissive, unctuous, bootlicking, sycophantic
Nearby words
services, servicewoman, servient, servient tenement, serviette, servile, servile work, servilely, servility, serving, servite
Origin of servile
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin servīlis, equivalent to serv- (stem of servīre to be a slave) + -īlis -ile
SYNONYMS FOR servile
1, 2 cringing, sycophantic. Servile, menial, obsequious, slavish characterize one who behaves like a slave or an inferior. Servile suggests cringing, fawning, and abject submission: servile responses to questions. Menial applies to that which is considered undesirable drudgery: the most menial tasks. Obsequious implies the ostentatious subordination of oneself to the wishes of another, either from fear or from hope of gain: an obsequious waiter. Slavish stresses the dependence and labori-ous toil of one who follows or obeys without question: slavish attentiveness to orders.
2 mean, base, low.
Related forms
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for servile
British Dictionary definitions for servile
servile
/ (ˈsɜːvaɪl) /
adjective
obsequious or fawning in attitude or behaviour; submissive
of or suitable for a slave
existing in or relating to a state of slavery
(when postpositive, foll by to) submitting or obedient
Derived Formsservilely, adverbservility (sɜːˈvɪlɪtɪ) or servileness, noun
Word Origin for servile
C14: from Latin servīlis, from servus slave
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for servile
servile
late 14c., from Latin servilis "of a slave" (as in Servile Wars, name given to the slave revolts in the late Roman Republic), also "slavish, servile," from servus "slave" (see serve (v.)). Earliest sense was legal, servile work being forbidden on the Sabbath; sense of "cringing, fawning" first recorded c.1600.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper