1
as in subordinate
very willing to obey someone else
She was an equal partner in the marriage and not a subservient wife.
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2
as in secondary
having a less important role, job, or place as something else
The employees used to build things by hand but now were subservient to automated equipment that handled much of production.
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Recent Examples of subservient
Instead, Trump made sure that incentives for these renewable technologies were wound down in the ultra-MAGA budget bill that the subservient Congress recently sent to him and is hell-bent on clearing the path for oil and gas and coal to dominate.
—
New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 31 July 2025
Remember Hurricane Andrew? Ira Gross, Boca Raton What absolute power does
A subservient Florida Legislature let DeSantis spend taxpayer money on his political whims, while awarding huge no-bid contracts to his political friends.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 18 July 2025
It will not be subservient to the prime minister—or to any one person.
—Hartosh Singh Bal, Foreign Affairs, 30 June 2025
Moscow may brush off this latest setback, its rigidly subservient state media able to sustain any narrative the Kremlin chooses.
—Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Money, 2 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for subservient
New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 31 July 2025
Remember Hurricane Andrew? Ira Gross, Boca Raton What absolute power does
A subservient Florida Legislature let DeSantis spend taxpayer money on his political whims, while awarding huge no-bid contracts to his political friends.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 18 July 2025
It will not be subservient to the prime minister—or to any one person.
—Hartosh Singh Bal, Foreign Affairs, 30 June 2025
Moscow may brush off this latest setback, its rigidly subservient state media able to sustain any narrative the Kremlin chooses.
—Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Money, 2 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for subservient
Recent Examples of Synonyms for subservient
Adjective
-
Yasuda ordered his subordinate, Lieutenant Colonel Tatsusaburo Suzuki, to prepare a report on the feasibility of a uranium project in Japan.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
23 Oct. 2025
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Indeed, allowing men but not women to have multiple spouses is clearly unequal and entwined with patriarchal ideology that positions women as subordinate or inferior to men.—
David W. Lawson,
The Conversation,
21 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Both teams decided to play on under secondary lighting only before the main lights eventually returned minutes into the contest.—
Julian McKenzie,
New York Times,
23 Oct. 2025
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Variances in consumer behavior, how pandemic era spend has evolved and the secondary market boom are all playing a role.—
James Manso,
Footwear News,
22 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
There’s a difference, school leaders said, between building the confidence of girls, whom society expects to be obedient and agreeable, and building the confidence of boys, who get different societal messages.—
Melanie Asmar,
Denver Post,
5 Oct. 2025
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The Tyrell Corporation, a powerful company that created the replicants and profits from sending them to work on distant colonies, sees them as nothing more than obedient workers.—
Claire A. Simmers,
The Conversation,
25 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Active news consumers were much more likely to be politically engaged, while passive news consumers were much more likely to be disengaged or moderately engaged in politics.—
Max Tani,
semafor.com,
27 Oct. 2025
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Its bilayer design features an active layer that changes shape and color and a passive layer that provides stiffness and optical transparency.—
Jijo Malayil,
Interesting Engineering,
26 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Subservient.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/subservient. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
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