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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Example Sentences
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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
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
Arriving at Egg Island sporting bohemian attire and a distinctly non-deferent attitude, Monk swiftly arouses the suspicions of Horton and his stuffy, servile housekeeper Mrs. McMurray (Kristine Nielsen).
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 16 Sep. 2023
The statue features a godlike Lincoln astride a kneeling, formerly enslaved man in a loincloth — his servile gratitude could not be more apparent.
—Peter Marks, Washington Post, 15 Sep. 2023
See All Example Sentences for servile
Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, 30 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
Arriving at Egg Island sporting bohemian attire and a distinctly non-deferent attitude, Monk swiftly arouses the suspicions of Horton and his stuffy, servile housekeeper Mrs. McMurray (Kristine Nielsen).
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 16 Sep. 2023
The statue features a godlike Lincoln astride a kneeling, formerly enslaved man in a loincloth — his servile gratitude could not be more apparent.
—Peter Marks, Washington Post, 15 Sep. 2023
See All Example Sentences for servile
Recent Examples of Synonyms for servile
Adjective
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Netflix 19 of 20 A Tale of Two Kitchens (2019) The modest length of this short — which clocks in at 30 minutes — reflects its humble attitude.—
Katie Rife,
EW.com,
11 May 2025
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Flatten It Out Sea turtles don't have much mobility on land, and even the humblest sand structure can be a major obstacle to nesting females making their way across the sand or to hatchlings heading back toward the water.—
Katie Akin,
Southern Living,
10 May 2025
Adjective
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According to the latest report from L.A.’s film office, production days on location decreased more than 22 percent in the first quarter of 2025 compared with an already meek period in 2024.—
Katie Kilkenny,
HollywoodReporter,
2 May 2025
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Democrats, unable either to diagnose or to admit to their own failings, measured their victories in the meekest of triumphs, and seemed to have lost all sense of purpose, direction, and proportion.—
Jill Lepore,
New Yorker,
28 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Not even Roy Hodgson received this kind of treatment in the dark days of the 2010-11 season as his abject side lurched towards a relegation battle.—
James Pearce,
New York Times,
12 May 2025
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The story of this production is like an inversion of the play’s: Oldman, 67, fondly revisiting a haunt of his youth in the twilight of an illustrious career, plays Krapp, an unsuccessful writer who, on his 69th birthday, looks back at his past self and sees only abject failure.—
Houman Barekat,
New York Times,
28 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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The menial tasks could be done by AI and the oversight and organization of those tasks could be taken on by people.—
Gili Malinsky,
CNBC,
13 May 2025
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Two are working at menial jobs and one will be limited in his job prospects, and one is not working at all.—
R. Eric Thomas,
Chicago Tribune,
7 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Servile.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/servile. Accessed 21 May. 2025.
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