subservience

noun sub·ser·vi·ence \ səb-ˈsər-vē-ən(t)s \

|Updated on: 3 Jun 2018

Definition of subservience

1 : a subservient or subordinate place or function

2 : obsequious servility

Recent Examples of subservience from the Web

The Tigers also boasted the world’s fiercest army of women, even as Tamil society imposed a culture of subservience.

— Longreads, "A Chance to Rewrite History: The Women Fighters of the Tamil Tigers," 22 May 2018
During Monday’s investiture debate, Torra made clear his subservience to ex-Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, who is fighting extradition from Germany.

— Washington Post, "Fervent secessionist picked as Catalonia’s stand-in leader," 15 May 2018
Iran’s own people staged public protests across the country last weekend, explicitly citing the subservience of their needs to the mullahs’ militarized spending.

— daniel henninger, WSJ, "It’s Trump’s Iran Deal Now," 9 May 2018
But plots devised to teach these women subservience have been rendered obsolete by a late-evolving common sense.

— charles mcnulty, latimes.com, "South Coast Rep's 'Shrew!' trips along the rutted road of Shakespearean updates," 2 Apr. 2018
Service is not servility, just as deference is not subservience.

— chicagotribune.com, "Mattis is an ancient Roman action hero," 29 Mar. 2018
Ronald Reagan's diplomatic engagement of the Soviet Union did not translate into fawning subservience toward a dictator.

— michael gerson, Anchorage Daily News, "Is Trump’s coziness with Putin causing the White House to panic?," 25 Mar. 2018
Our fascination with women like Ivanka and Julie, then, derives from their veiled subservience to the president’s interests.

— nicola pardy, refinery29.com, "Before Ivanka Trump, There Was Julie Nixon," 12 Mar. 2018
On the one hand, the subservience of Georgia's Republicans to the NRA is pretty revolting.

— ben joravsky, Chicago Reader, "Georgia gun lovers take bold stand against corporate handouts—for all the wrong reasons," 6 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'subservience.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.