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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Servile \Serv"ile\, noun (Gram.) An element which forms no part of the original root; -- opposed to {radical}.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Servile \Serv"ile\, adjective [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.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
servile
adjective
1: pertaining to or involving slaves; "the servile wars of Sicily"
2: 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" [ant: {unservile}]
3: involving slaves; "Brown's attempt at servile insurrection" [syn: {servile(a)}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
118 Moby Thesaurus words for "servile": abject, abused, accepting, acquiescent, agreeable, apple-polishing, ass-kissing, assenting, attendant, attending, base, bootlicking, browbeaten, brown-nosing, client, common, complaisant, compliable, compliant, complying, consenting, craven, cringing, crouching, deferential, demeaning, dependent, despicable, disadvantaged, downtrod, downtrodden, fawning, feudal, feudatory, flattering, ground down, groveling, helping, henpecked, humble, ignoble, in leading strings, in the shade, inferior, infra dig, ingratiating, junior, less, lesser, liege, low, lower, lowly, mean, mean-spirited, menial, ministering, minor, misused, modest, nondissenting, nonresistant, nonresisting, nonresistive, obedient, obeisant, obsequious, on bended knee, oppressed, ordered around, ordinary, overborne, passive, prone, prostrate, regimented, resigned, scurvy, second rank, second string, secondary, serving, servitorial, slavish, slimy, smarmy, sordid, sub, subaltern, subject, submissive, subordinate, subservient, supine, sycophantic, sycophantish, third rank, third string, toadish, toadying, toadyish, trampled, tributary, truckling, tyrannized, ugly, unassertive, uncomplaining, unctuous, underprivileged, unmanned, unresistant, unresisting, vassal, vile, vulgar, waiting, wheedling
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |