Thesaurus

subservient

adjective

Synonyms and Antonyms of subservient

1 very willing to obey someone else

She was an equal partner in the marriage and not a subservient wife.

Synonyms and Near Synonyms of subservient

fawning, kowtowing, obeisant, obsequious, servile, slavish, subordinate

amenable, biddable, compliant, conformable, docile, law-abiding, obedient, submissive, tractable

acquiescent, agreeable, amiable, duteous, dutiful, obliging, placable

passive, resigned, unresistant

soft, surrendering, yielding

decorous, disciplined, mannerly, orderly

constrained, curbed, inhibited, repressed, restrained

controllable, disciplinable, governable, handleable, manageable, tame, teachable, tractable, trainable

gentle, meek, mild

Antonyms and Near Antonyms of subservient

balky, contrary, contumacious, defiant, disobedient, froward, incompliant, insubordinate, intractable, noncompliant, obstreperous, rebel, rebellious, recalcitrant, refractory, restive, unamenable, ungovernable, unruly, untoward, wayward, willful (or wilful)

insurgent, mutinous

dogged, hardheaded, headstrong, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, peevish, pigheaded, self-willed, stubborn, unyielding

uncontrollable, unmanageable, wild

defiant, perverse, resistant

bad, disorderly, errant, misbehaving, mischievous, naughty

ill-bred, undisciplined

dissident, nonconformist

disrespectful, ill-mannered, impolite, impudent, insolent, rude

2 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.

Synonyms and Near Synonyms of subservient

secondary, subordinate, subsidiary

ancillary, inferior

accessorial, accessory, appurtenant, auxiliary, marginal, peripheral, supplemental, supplementary

backup, makeshift, substitute

added, additional, another, further

complementary, contributory

adjuvant, assistant, assisting, helping, supportive, tributary

Antonyms and Near Antonyms of subservient

all-important, essential, imperative, indispensable, integral, necessary, needed, needful, required, requisite, vital

basic, fundamental, primary, prime

chief, main, principal

Synonym Discussion of subservient

subservient, servile, slavish, obsequious mean showing or characterized by extreme compliance or abject obedience. subservient implies the cringing manner of one very conscious of a subordinate position.

- domestic help was expected to be properly subservient

servile suggests the mean or fawning behavior of a slave.

- a political boss and his entourage of servile hangers-on

slavish suggests abject or debased servility.

- the slavish status of migrant farm workers

obsequious implies fawning or sycophantic compliance and exaggerated deference of manner.

- waiters who are obsequious in the presence of celebrities

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