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
That this was news was hard to believe, since complaints about servile female voices had been made not for years but for decades.
—
Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2024
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
Some Hawaiian cultural experts say aloha is a complex and fluid idea, too often misconstrued as a sweet and servile way of tolerating visitors.
—Jenny Jarvie, Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 2023
These officials could, in turn, redistribute some of their private goods among their own servile lieutenants, but the monarch retained ultimate power to grant or revoke their privileged status.
—Serhiy Kudelia, Foreign Affairs, 27 Feb. 2014
See All Example Sentences for servile
Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2024
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
Some Hawaiian cultural experts say aloha is a complex and fluid idea, too often misconstrued as a sweet and servile way of tolerating visitors.
—Jenny Jarvie, Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 2023
These officials could, in turn, redistribute some of their private goods among their own servile lieutenants, but the monarch retained ultimate power to grant or revoke their privileged status.
—Serhiy Kudelia, Foreign Affairs, 27 Feb. 2014
See All Example Sentences for servile
Recent Examples of Synonyms for servile
Adjective
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Its irresistible hook is always the food, prepared with love and care, often at humble family-run operations that have been in business for generations.—
Leslie Kelly,
Forbes.com,
2 Sep. 2025
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The original movie saw the recent college graduate in the intense world of fashion and global media, juggling her humble past with a bright future while working as an assistant to Streep’s Priestly.—
Bailey Richards,
People.com,
2 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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What threatened to be a meek, straight-sets exit for the 13th seed went full-metal crazy on match point down when Bonzi was interrupted from serving it out after a photographer absent-mindedly walked onto the court.—
Tim Ellis,
Forbes.com,
26 Aug. 2025
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Social deficits can manifest as belligerent or meek.—
Tao Lin,
Harpers Magazine,
20 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Weaknesses: About that quarterback: Caleb Williams was drafted No. 1 overall into a pretty favorable situation, making his rookie season an abject failure (particularly relative to the No. 2 pick).—
Bennett Durando,
Denver Post,
26 Aug. 2025
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Weapons plays along the same lines in this sub-genre’s sandbox, too, denying easy catharsis after wracking viewers’ nerves with its combination of pitch-black humor, abject grief, and superbly conducted jump scares.—
Andy Crump,
Time,
9 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Resistant to seeking full-time employment that would exhaust his writing time, Paul instead signs up to a website that assigns one-off menial jobs — yard work, rubble removal, flatpack furniture assembly — to the freelancer willing to work for the lowest possible rate.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
29 Aug. 2025
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Beyond middle managers’ jobs being under threat amid the rise of AI, most of managements’ days are spent juggling menial tasks, rather than actualizing a broader workplace vision.—
Sasha Rogelberg,
Fortune,
27 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Servile.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/servile. Accessed 8 Sep. 2025.
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