ser·vile

(sûr′vəl, -vīl′)

adj.

1. Abjectly submissive; slavish.

a. Of or suitable to a slave or servant.

b. Of or relating to servitude or forced labor.

[Middle English, from Latin servīlis, from servus, slave.]

ser′vile·ly adv.

ser′vile·ness, ser·vil′i·ty (sər-vĭl′ĭ-tē) n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

servileness

noun

A state of subjugation to an owner or master:

bondage, enslavement, helotry, serfdom, servility, servitude, slavery, thrall, thralldom, villeinage, yoke.

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References in periodicals archive

requires that servile natures be servily used," Samuel Purchas claimed in 1625, "that future dangers be prevented by the extirpation of the most dangerous, and commodities also raised out of the servileness and serviceablenesse of the rest." Clearly, John Morton asserted, recent events had demonstrated that "natives are apter for worke then yet o[ur] English are." (36)

To "doe some good upon their countrymen": the paradox of Indian slavery in early Anglo-America

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