servile meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

servile

adj

UK /ˈsɜː(ɹ)ˌvaɪl/ · US /ˈsəɹ.vəl/

Etymology From Middle English servyle, from Old French servil, servile, from Latin servīlis, from servus (“slave”). By surface analysis, serve + -ile.

Excessively eager to please; obsequious.

British “subjects” (not citizens, note) are just that: gleefully servile to the monarchy’s institutionalised inequality...2021, Ed Vulliamy, The Guardian:

Slavish or submissive.

servile flattery servile obedience
Even fortune rules no more, O servile land!c. 1699 – 1703, Alexander Pope, “The First Book of Statius His Thebais”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC:

Of or pertaining to slaves or slavery.

Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences Not belonging to the original root.

a servile letter

Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences Not sounded, but serving to lengthen the preceding vowel, like the e in tune.

Synonyms: abject, duteous, meek, servile, slavish, submissive, subservient
Antonyms: arrogant, bossy
Derived terms: nonservile, overservile, semiservile, servile arts, servilely, servileness, servilism, servility, servilize, unservile
Related terms: serve, servant, slave, BDSM, sadomasochism, sycophant
Hypernyms: obedient
Hyponyms: ingratiating, parasitical, sycophantic, crawling, cringing, crouching, fawning, groveling, prostrate, sneaking, sniveling, cajoling, coaxing, wheedling

servile

noun

Etymology From Middle English servyle, from Old French servil, servile, from Latin servīlis, from servus (“slave”). By surface analysis, serve + -ile.

Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences An element which forms no part of the original root.

A slave; a menial.

Antonyms: radical