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
According to tradition, Lilith left the Garden of Eden after refusing to be subservient to Adam.
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Encyclopedia Britannica,
8 May 2026
Diaries confirm that life is in the details, and in its passions, all of which Ford includes, all of which are inevitably subservient to time.
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Literary Hub,
30 Apr. 2026
But the oppressive structure of the cult soon becomes evident — media is completely disavowed, women must be subservient to men and contact with outsiders is kept to a bare minimum.
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Keith Langston,
PEOPLE,
23 Apr. 2026
Staff are always on-call and responsive without being intrusive or subservient.
—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
23 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for subservient
Encyclopedia Britannica,
8 May 2026
Diaries confirm that life is in the details, and in its passions, all of which Ford includes, all of which are inevitably subservient to time.
—
Literary Hub,
30 Apr. 2026
But the oppressive structure of the cult soon becomes evident — media is completely disavowed, women must be subservient to men and contact with outsiders is kept to a bare minimum.
—
Keith Langston,
PEOPLE,
23 Apr. 2026
Staff are always on-call and responsive without being intrusive or subservient.
—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
23 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for subservient
Recent Examples of Synonyms for subservient
Adjective
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The economic order must remain subordinate to human dignity and the common good.
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The study examined 518 manager-subordinate relationships and found that this leadership approach enhanced both employee thriving and performance through stronger positive job attitudes.
Adjective
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Filing a secondary service connection claim with proper documentation is the necessary first step toward coverage.
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IPOs that do have widely available stock to the public historically underperform, meaning that those insiders and institutional players passed on an opportunity to buy before the stock was in the secondary market.
Adjective
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Second, victims of higher taxes don’t stand still and get sheared like obedient sheep.
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The dogs Kostyukevich saw on Happy K9 Academy’s Instagram page seemed happy and obedient.
Adjective
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Because SpaceX's publicly tradable float remains small compared with its total market capitalization, even a modest index weighting could require meaningful purchases from passive investment vehicles.
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During the company’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings call Friday, CFO Sean McCabe said Cineverse had shifted from 50-50 joint venture partner to passive minority stakeholder.
Cite this Entry
“Subservient.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/subservient. Accessed 2 Jul. 2026.
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