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Latin served us servile with the help of servilis, itself from servus, the Latin word for "slave." Servus is also an ancestor of serve, service, and servitude. Synonyms of servile in English include subservient, slavish, and obsequious. Subservient implies the cringing manner of someone who is very conscious of having a subordinate position. Slavish suggests abject or debased servitude. Obsequious implies fawning or sycophantic compliance and exaggerated deference of manner. Servile suggests the fawning behavior of one in forced servitude.
Examples of servile in a Sentence
Sean Malin, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2024
These officials could, in turn, redistribute some of their private goods among their own servile lieutenants, but the monarch retained ultimate power to grant or revoke their privileged status.
—Serhiy Kudelia, Foreign Affairs, 27 Feb. 2014
That this was news was hard to believe, since complaints about servile female voices had been made not for years but for decades.
—Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2024
Some Hawaiian cultural experts say aloha is a complex and fluid idea, too often misconstrued as a sweet and servile way of tolerating visitors.
—Jenny Jarvie, Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 2023
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Dictionary Entries Near servile
Cite this Entry
“Servile.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/servile. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
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servile
adjective
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