Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Abjectly submissive; slavish.
- adj. Of or suitable to a slave or servant.
- adj. Of or relating to servitude or forced labor.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Of or pertaining to slaves or servants.
- Consisting or made up of slaves; belonging to the class of slaves; held in subjection; dependent.
- Pertaining or appropriate to a slave or dependent; fit or proper for a slave.
- Resembling a slave or dependent; characteristic or worthy of a slave; slavish; hence, mean-spirited; cringing; base; lacking independence.
- Obedient; subject.
- In grammar, of secondary or subordinate character; not independent, but answering an orthographic purpose.
- n. A slave; a menial.
- n. In grammar, a servile element, whether sound or character; a non-radical element.
Wiktionary
- adj. of or pertaining to a slave
- adj. submissive or slavish
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Of or pertaining to a servant or slave; befitting a servant or a slave; proceeding from dependence; hence, meanly submissive; slavish; mean; cringing; fawning.
- adj. Held in subjection; dependent; enslaved.
- adj. Not belonging to the original root.
- adj. Not itself sounded, but serving to lengthen the preceeding vowel, as
e intune . - n. An element which forms no part of the original root; -- opposed to
radical .
WordNet 3.0
- adj. submissive or fawning in attitude or behavior
- adj. relating to or involving slaves or appropriate for slaves or servants
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Latin servīlis, from servus, slave.
Examples
“Independents ... was what they called the servile character and the dog-like fidelity [_Hundestreue_] of the German people, that is to say, that attachment -- innate and firmly impressed on their minds without even the aid of reason -- which that excellent people everywhere bears towards its princes.”
“Because obviously black people can only be in servile positions * rolls eyes*”
“Such fear of punishment is compatible with charity, but it is not called servile unless punishment is looked upon as the principal evil, as we explained in Arts. 2 and 3.”
Nature and Grace: Selections from the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas
“On the first point: this saying of Augustine is to be understood as referring to one who does something out of servile fear because he is servile, that is, who has no love for justice, but merely fears punishment.”
Nature and Grace: Selections from the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas
“Wherefore in this respect those works are called servile whereby one man serves another.”
“The third is the servitude of God; and in this way the work of worship, which pertains to the service of God, may be called a servile work.”
“On the other hand, those works that are called servile in the first or second way are contrary to the observance of the Sabbath, in so far as they hinder man from applying himself to Divine things.”
“Before the days of Christianity, slaves alone were thus employed, and from the word "servi" or slaves these are called servile works.”
Explanation of Catholic Morals A Concise, Reasoned, and Popular Exposition of Catholic Morals
“From the first he repudiated the idea of servile imitation of ancient classical authors; discrimination should be shown in borrowing from their writings, and imitation should be restricted to features likely to strengthen the thought.”
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 6: Fathers of the Church-Gregory XI
“The first of these is the worship of the Eidolon, or Phantasm of Wealth; worship of which you will find the nature partly examined in the 37th paragraph of my _Munera Pulveris_; but which is briefly to be defined as the servile apprehension of an active power in Money, and the submission to it as the God of our life.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘servile’.
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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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January 2012
bloviate, pastiche, apparat, facile, paroxysm, pique, bedfellow, pedigree, tutelage, protege, protégé, retroactive and 196 more...
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HITCH 22
I love you Christopher Hitchens, but all your big words are making me feel dumb.
apotropaic, laconic, subaltern, tryptych, annals, conscript, flagellation, etiolate, caprice, servile, blithe, inoculate
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