View synonyms for servility

servility

[ sur-vil-i-tee ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

the quality of being slavishly submissive or fawning:
The place was full of florists and decorators, all striving to outdo each other in servility to the bride-to-be.
the quality of being extremely imitative or unoriginal, especially in the arts:
Servility to a French European tradition may explain why these 19th-century poets failed to leave a mark on French Canada’s literary history.
the state or condition of being a slave or servant:
Under Guru Nanak, a people who had lived for centuries in total servility became valiant warriors against their oppressors.

First recorded in 1525–35; servil(e) ( def ) + -ity ( def )

Why should we acquiesce in the preparation of our spirits for the worst kind of servility—slavery to fate?

There is, at least, no country in Europe in which servility has not invented and vanity received genealogies yet more chimerical.

There is little difficulty in summing up their tenets: it is "Reverence, without servility."

Parliament tried respectful remonstrances in vain; the cardinal thought himself safe in the servility of the nation.

Resistance to power has shut the door of the House of Commons to one man; obsequiousness and servility, to none.

A constitutional habit of servility to his creditor when present before him signalized Algernon.

April 24, 2024gallimaufry

[gal-uh-maw-free ]

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