me·ni·al

(mē′nē-əl, mēn′yəl)

adj.

1. Of or relating to work or a job regarded as servile.

2. Of, relating to, or appropriate for a servant.

1. A servant, especially a domestic servant.

2. A person who has a servile or low nature.

[Middle English meinial, belonging to a household, from Anglo-Norman meignial, from meignee, household, from Vulgar Latin *mānsiōnāta, from Latin mānsiō, mānsiōn-, house; see mansion.]

me′ni·al·ly adv.

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.

menial

(ˈmiːnɪəl)

adj

1. consisting of or occupied with work requiring little skill, esp domestic duties such as cleaning

2. of, involving, or befitting servants

3. servile

4. a domestic servant

5. a servile person

[C14: from Anglo-Norman meignial, from Old French meinie household. See meiny]

ˈmenially adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

me•ni•al

(ˈmi ni əl, ˈmin yəl)

adj.

1. servile; degrading: menial work.

2. of or suitable for servants; humble.

3. a domestic servant.

[1350–1400; Middle English meynyal < Anglo-French me(i)nial]

me′ni•al•ly, adv.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	menial - a domestic servant servant, retainer - a person working in the service of another (especially in the household)
Adj.	1.	menial - used of unskilled work (especially domestic work) humble, lowly unskilled - not having or showing or requiring special skill or proficiency; "unskilled in the art of rhetoric"; "an enthusiastic but unskillful mountain climber"; "unskilled labor"; "workers in unskilled occupations are finding fewer and fewer job opportunities"; "unskilled workmanship"

menial

adjective

1. low-status, degrading, lowly, unskilled, low, base, sorry, boring, routine, dull, humble, mean, vile, demeaning, fawning, abject, grovelling, humdrum, subservient, ignominious, sycophantic, servile, slavish, ignoble, obsequious low-paid menial jobs such as cleaning
low-status high, noble, elevated, dignified, aristocratic, autocratic

noun

1. servant, domestic, attendant, lackey, labourer, serf, underling, drudge, vassal (archaic), dogsbody (informal), flunky, skivvy (chiefly Brit.), varlet (archaic) The name 'beef-eater' was aimed at any well-fed menial.
servant lord, boss, chief, master, commander, superior, baas (S. African)

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

menial

adjective

Excessively eager to serve or obey:

obsequious, servile, slavish, subservient.

Translations

Knecht

umile

menial

[ˈmiːnɪəl]

A. ADJ (= lowly) → servil; (= domestic) → doméstico, de la casa
menial work → trabajo m de baja categoría

B. N (= servant) → sirviente/a m/f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

menial

[ˈmiːniəl] adj [job, task] → subalterne

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

menial

adj → niedrig, untergeordnet; she regards no task as too menial for her → sie betrachtet keine Arbeit für unter ihrer Würde; the menial staff → die (unteren) Dienstboten, das Gesinde

n (pej) → Dienstbote m → /-botin f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

menial

[ˈmiːnɪəl] adj (position) → subalterno/a; (work, task) → umile, servile

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Pardon the menial office in which I am engaged, sir, and extend your sympathies to one, who, humble as his appearance is, has inn'ard workings far above his station.'

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Larry Donovan was a passenger conductor, one of those train-crew aristocrats who are always afraid that someone may ask them to put up a car-window, and who, if requested to perform such a menial service, silently point to the button that calls the porter.

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"You reminded him that Quint was only a base menial?"

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His position in Lady Lydiard's household was in no sense of the menial sort.

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As to the Indian, he is a game animal, not to be degraded by useful or menial toil.

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'I was carried through the streets with the rapidity of lightning,' said she, 'and taken into a soldier's room, and I had to wait upon him like a servant, sweep his room, clean his boots, and do all kinds of menial work.

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That foxey old grunter and grinder, sir, turns into the yard this morning, to meddle with our property, a menial tool of his own, a young man by the name of Sloppy.

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From his complete inattention to the tidings, you would think that moody Ahab had not heard his menial. But presently, catching hold of the mizen shrouds, he swings himself to the deck, and in an even, unexhilarated voice, saying, Dinner, Mr.

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Our natures had adapted themselves to circumstances, and we no longer pined for the luxuries of the linum usitatissimum, but were ready to enter into all the pleasures of our new existence; which we well understood was to be one of pure parade, for no handkerchief of our quality was ever employed on any of the more menial offices of the profession.

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Once again came the ape-man, and this time there came with him fifty fighting men, turning porters for love of the only creature in the world who might command of their fierce and haughty natures such menial service.

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"Going into service" was the expression by which the Dodson mind represented to itself the position of teacher or governess; and Maggie's return to that menial condition, now circumstances offered her more eligible prospects, was likely to be a sore point with all her relatives, besides Lucy.

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He asked himself who Keggs was, anyway; and replied defiantly that Keggs was a Menial--and an overfed Menial. But all the while he knew that logic was useless.

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