as in humble
showing, expressing, or offered in a spirit of humility or unseemly submissiveness
had always maintained a servile attitude around people with money
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Recent Examples of servile
His servile defense secretary has threatened to deploy the military in other cities.
—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 13 June 2025
So Alex dons a uniform, buses tables and engages in servile labor for the first time in her life.
—Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 23 Mar. 2025
Trump’s servile devotion to Putin becomes the new norm overnight as Republicans cower in support of Trump’s new Putin policy.
—Bob Kustra, Chicago Tribune, 7 Mar. 2025
His co-stars, like Will Ferrell’s savage Mugatu, Owen Wilson’s stoner hottie Hansel, and Nathan Lee Graham’s servile Todd — all so precise and well-defined in the original’s ravelike milieu — are doomed to retrace their old steps here.
—Sean Malin, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2024
See All Example Sentences for servile
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 13 June 2025
So Alex dons a uniform, buses tables and engages in servile labor for the first time in her life.
—Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 23 Mar. 2025
Trump’s servile devotion to Putin becomes the new norm overnight as Republicans cower in support of Trump’s new Putin policy.
—Bob Kustra, Chicago Tribune, 7 Mar. 2025
His co-stars, like Will Ferrell’s savage Mugatu, Owen Wilson’s stoner hottie Hansel, and Nathan Lee Graham’s servile Todd — all so precise and well-defined in the original’s ravelike milieu — are doomed to retrace their old steps here.
—Sean Malin, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2024
See All Example Sentences for servile
Recent Examples of Synonyms for servile
Adjective
-
The psychological vulnerability this creates was encountered decades ago in a far humbler system.—
Deb Roy,
The Atlantic,
15 Feb. 2026
-
And Scorsese approaches it all through the lens of Harrison’s humble humanism.—
Jordan Hoffman,
Entertainment Weekly,
15 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Martin, 52, is the harried face of this meek resistance.—
Mark Leibovich,
The Atlantic,
11 Feb. 2026
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But savings were meek, with the largest dip found in Stockton, off only 4% last year vs up 2% in 2024 and 36% over the previous four years.—
Jonathan Lansner,
Oc Register,
31 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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But pressed on a range of subjects, from the reasons for their increasingly abject home record to their bizarre eight-minute implosion against Andoni Iraola’s side, there was at least an acknowledgement that this latest setback at Hill Dickinson Stadium had been entirely avoidable.—
Patrick Boyland,
New York Times,
11 Feb. 2026
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He was born into relative monetary comfort while I was born into massive dysfunction followed by years of abject poverty and homelessness.—
Douglas Mackinnon,
Boston Herald,
20 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Therefore, their work, whether from menial day-to-day tasks to top secret missions for national security are consistently linked back to the overarching mission of defending their country.—
Heather V. MacArthur,
Forbes.com,
22 Jan. 2026
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As a result, young people have become an export commodity; over 317,000 Ugandans now labor in the Gulf, one of Africa’s highest rates of menial migration.—
Charles Onyango-Obbo,
semafor.com,
12 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Servile.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/servile. Accessed 18 Feb. 2026.
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