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slavish

adj, noun — 4 senses

slavish

adjalso spelled Slavish

/ˈsleɪvɪʃ/

Etymology From slave + -ish.

1

In the manner of a slave; abject.

  • “You have freed them from higher restraint, Halbert,” answered the Abbot, “and therein taught them to rebel against your own.” / “Fear not that, Edward,” exclaimed Halbert, who never gave his brother his monastic name of Ambrosius; “none obey the command of real duty so well as those who are free from the observance of slavish bondage.”1820, [Walter Scott], chapter XV, in The Abbot. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, page 344:
2

Utterly faithful; totally lacking originality, creativity, or reflection.

  • a slavish reproduction
  • slavish observation of rules
Derived terms
overslavish, slavishly, slavishness, unslavish

Slavish

noun

/ˈslɑːvɪʃ/

Etymology From Slav + -ish, probably after German slawisch.

1

Any of various Slavic languages, especially Old Church Slavonic.

Slavish

adj

Etymology From Slav + -ish, probably after German slawisch.

1

Archaic Pertaining to Slavs or the Slavic languages; Slavic.

  • Some time after he proceeded to the University at Prague, in order to prosecute his studies under Professor Czelakowsky, who had removed from Breslau to the University at Prague, as Professor of Slavish languages.1863, Colburn's United Service Magazine, Part I, April, p. 559:
  • The great Russians were first merely a mixture of Swedish, Finnish and Slavish peoples.1924, J. E. DeVos, 1500 Years of Europe, p. 400

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — authors: page histories for slavish and Slavish.