servile
[sur-vil, -vahyl]
- slavishly submissive or obsequious; fawning: servile flatterers.
- characteristic of, proper to, or customary for slaves; abject: servile obedience.
- yielding slavishly; truckling (usually followed by to).
- extremely imitative, especially in the arts; lacking in originality.
- being in slavery; oppressed.
- of, relating to, or involving slaves or servants.
- of or relating to a condition of servitude or property ownership in which a person is held as a slave or as partially enslaved: medieval rebellions against servile laws.
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Origin of servile
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin servīlis, equivalent to serv- (stem of servīre to be a slave) + -īlis -ile
Synonyms
See more synonyms for servile on Thesaurus.com1, 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.
Antonyms
1. aggressive. 2. exalted.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for servility
Contemporary Examples
Why should we acquiesce in the preparation of our spirits for the worst kind of servility—slavery to fate?
Historical Examples
Now, he was her humble petitioner, but this servility could be of no avail to save him from shame.
Within the LawMarvin Dana
A legion of hirelings were zealous to show their servility and loyalty to their lords.
The Railroad QuestionWilliam Larrabee
Such a thing they would regard as in itself a symbol of servility.
Don't mistake coolness and poise for submissiveness and servility.
Dollars and SenseCol. Wm. C. Hunter
Sal Karone remained in the background, but there was no servility in his manner.
Cubs of the WolfRaymond F. Jones
servile
- 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
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Word Origin
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 servility
servile
adj.
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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper