variants
also handmaid
as in maid
a female domestic servant
the princess was intensely shy, and allowed only her handmaiden to enter her chambers
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Recent Examples of handmaiden
There’s a New Spirituality in Pop Music June 7, 1987
As religion and crypto-religion were locked in mortal combat, the AIDS plague was sweeping across gay communities like a firestorm, to the complete indifference of the federal government and their Christian handmaidens.
—
Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 22 May 2025
And what the project means by the term—turning the Department of Energy into a handmaiden of the coal, oil and natural gas industry—betrays not only the taxpayer but science itself.
—Megha Satyanarayana, Scientific American, 25 Apr. 2025
In Gilead, women exist in complete subordination to men, especially the handmaids, a class of women who are still fertile despite an ongoing environmental catastrophe that has decimated birth rates.
—Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 7 Dec. 2024
However, like the original, it’s also grounded in the paranoia, compromises, and drudgery that are the handmaidens of intelligence work.
—Andy Meek, airmail.news, 23 Nov. 2024
See All Example Sentences for handmaiden
Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 22 May 2025
And what the project means by the term—turning the Department of Energy into a handmaiden of the coal, oil and natural gas industry—betrays not only the taxpayer but science itself.
—Megha Satyanarayana, Scientific American, 25 Apr. 2025
In Gilead, women exist in complete subordination to men, especially the handmaids, a class of women who are still fertile despite an ongoing environmental catastrophe that has decimated birth rates.
—Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 7 Dec. 2024
However, like the original, it’s also grounded in the paranoia, compromises, and drudgery that are the handmaidens of intelligence work.
—Andy Meek, airmail.news, 23 Nov. 2024
See All Example Sentences for handmaiden
Recent Examples of Synonyms for handmaiden
Noun
-
Chastain portrayed Celia Foote in the drama based on Kathryn Stockett's novel of the same name about a white journalist chronicling the lives of Black maids working for white households in 1960s Mississippi.—
Raechal Shewfelt,
Entertainment Weekly,
5 Sep. 2025
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Ella Beaty will play Lizzie, while Rebecca Hall will play Lizzie’s stepmother, Abby, and Vicky Krieps will play Bridget Sullvan, a maid in the Borden household.—
Joe Otterson,
Variety,
2 Sep. 2025
Noun
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The first glimpse of the movie showed Nina interviewing Millie for a live-in housekeeper job at the family's gorgeous mansion.—
Emily Blackwood,
PEOPLE,
16 Sep. 2025
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Other things to take a look at include light switches and clocks, says Denise Perry, executive housekeeper at the Brenton Hotel in Newport, Rhode Island.—
Iona Brannon,
Travel + Leisure,
15 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Handmaiden.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/handmaiden. Accessed 18 Sep. 2025.
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