Meaning of SERVILE
| Pronunciation: | | 'survil
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 WordNet Dictionary |
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- [adj] submissive or fawning in attitude or behavior; "spoke in a servile tone"; "the incurably servile housekeeper"; "servile tasks such as floor scrubbing and barn work"
- [adj] pertaining to or involving slaves; "the servile wars of Sicily"
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| | Synonyms: | | obsequious, slavelike, slavish, submissive, subservient |
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| | Antonyms: | | unservile, unsubmissive | | |
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| Webster's 1913 Dictionary |
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\Serv"ile\, a. [L. servile, fr. servus a servant or
slave: cf. F. servile. See {Serve}.]
1. Of or pertaining to a servant or slave; befitting a
servant or a slave; proceeding from dependence; hence,
meanly submissive; slavish; mean; cringing; fawning; as,
servile flattery; servile fear; servile obedience.
She must bend the servile knee. --Thomson.
Fearing dying pays death servile breath. --Shak.
2. Held in subjection; dependent; enslaved.
Even fortune rules no more, O servile land! --Pope.
3. (Gram.)
(a) Not belonging to the original root; as, a servile
letter.
(b) Not itself sounded, but serving to lengthen the
preceeding vowel, as e in tune.
\Serv"ile\, n. (Gram.)
An element which forms no part of the original root; --
opposed to {radical}.
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