Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of or relating to work or a job regarded as servile.
- adj. Of, relating to, or appropriate for a servant.
- n. A servant, especially a domestic servant.
- n. A person who has a servile or low nature.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Belonging to a retinue or train of servants; serving.
- Pertaining to servants or domestic service; servile.
- n. A domestic servant; one of a body of household servants: now used chiefly as a term of disparagement.
Wiktionary
- adj. Of or relating to work normally performed by a servant.
- adj. Of or relating to unskilled work.
- n. A servant, especially a domestic servant.
- n. A person who has a subservient nature.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Belonging to a retinue or train of servants; performing servile office; serving.
- adj. Pertaining to servants, esp. domestic servants; servile; low; mean.
- n. A domestic servant or retainer, esp. one of humble rank; one employed in low or servile offices.
- n. A person of a servile character or disposition.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. used of unskilled work (especially domestic work)
- n. a domestic servant
Etymologies
- Middle English meinial, belonging to a household, from Anglo-Norman meignial, from meignee, household, from Vulgar Latin *mānsiōnāta, from Latin mānsiō, mānsiōn-, house; see mansion.
Examples
“It is noteworthy that the Tahitian does not distinguish between what we call menial labor and other work.”
“Only as a menial is the Colored American to be seen – the Nation's deliberate and cowardly tribute to the Southern demand "to keep the Negro in his place.”
“But even these numbers are misleading, as many of those on staff serve in menial jobs such as cooks or gardeners.”
The Washington Post: Afghan government falls short in Kandahar
“Unless they have a valuable talent that is not tied to their intelligence, most of them are going to wind up in menial positions making minimum wage.”
“My own view is that there are probably cognitive and possibly neurological differences which contribute to this pattern, but that given my experience both in menial jobs and professional areas dealing with colleagues of different backgrounds, I do not believe that African-Americans are inferior.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » But Isn’t It a Bit Hard to Predict With a 7-Year-Old?
“In a not too distant future, water shortages force a young laborer (Luis Fernando Peña) to a Tijuana firm that employs specially equipped people to virtually control robots in menial U.S. jobs.”
“Any time lost in menial labor is painful and expensive.”
Women Grow Business » Overcome Entrepreneurial Shock with Online Project Collaboration
“Other refugees will be used as cheap labour in menial jobs and will be resettled in remote areas that are unacceptable for Jews to live in.”
“And you seem to say that those in menial jobs are there through no fault of their own.”
““You seem to say that those in menial jobs are there at there own fault and peril.””
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘menial’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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Vocab.5
adequate, administer, agitate, capitulate, citrus, disrupt, hovel, illiterate, indifferent, menial, permanent, respite and 3 more...
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Vocab5
adequate, administer, agitate, capitulate, citrus, disrupt, hovel, illiterate, indifferent, menial, permanent, respite and 3 more...
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Maids
Maids of all stripes.
twait-shad, chambermaid, demoiselle, fille de chambre, housemaid, amah, lady's maid, femme-de-chambre, tire-woman, soubrette, comb-brush, abigail and 61 more...
kringlan My opponent got 74 points for playing this word at scrabble. Definately not a menial word in this case. Nov 21, 2007