as in humble
showing, expressing, or offered in a spirit of humility or unseemly submissiveness
had always maintained a servile attitude around people with money
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of servile
That this was news was hard to believe, since complaints about servile female voices had been made not for years but for decades.
—
Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2024
Some Hawaiian cultural experts say aloha is a complex and fluid idea, too often misconstrued as a sweet and servile way of tolerating visitors.
—Jenny Jarvie, Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 2023
Arriving at Egg Island sporting bohemian attire and a distinctly non-deferent attitude, Monk swiftly arouses the suspicions of Horton and his stuffy, servile housekeeper Mrs. McMurray (Kristine Nielsen).
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 16 Sep. 2023
The statue features a godlike Lincoln astride a kneeling, formerly enslaved man in a loincloth — his servile gratitude could not be more apparent.
—Peter Marks, Washington Post, 15 Sep. 2023
See All Example Sentences for servile
Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2024
Some Hawaiian cultural experts say aloha is a complex and fluid idea, too often misconstrued as a sweet and servile way of tolerating visitors.
—Jenny Jarvie, Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 2023
Arriving at Egg Island sporting bohemian attire and a distinctly non-deferent attitude, Monk swiftly arouses the suspicions of Horton and his stuffy, servile housekeeper Mrs. McMurray (Kristine Nielsen).
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 16 Sep. 2023
The statue features a godlike Lincoln astride a kneeling, formerly enslaved man in a loincloth — his servile gratitude could not be more apparent.
—Peter Marks, Washington Post, 15 Sep. 2023
See All Example Sentences for servile
Recent Examples of Synonyms for servile
Adjective
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The humble statement was met with loud protests from all of his onstage colleagues, as well as Armisen.—
Jillian Sederholm,
EW.com,
4 June 2025
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The humble bathroom scale has long been overdue to learn some new tricks.—
Christopher Null,
Wired News,
4 June 2025
Adjective
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That confidence paid off as Farrow received her first Tony nomination for her role as the initially meek homebody Sharon in the play by Jen Silverman, which ran at the Booth Theatre on Broadway from September through December 2024.—
Caitlin Huston,
HollywoodReporter,
31 May 2025
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According to the latest report from L.A.’s film office, production days on location decreased more than 22 percent in the first quarter of 2025 compared with an already meek period in 2024.—
Katie Kilkenny,
HollywoodReporter,
2 May 2025
Adjective
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There’s been the sublime, the abject, high drama, controversy, punch ups.—
The Athletic UK Staff,
New York Times,
22 May 2025
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Based on lottery odds, two years of abject losing might (but only might) get you a top-three pick.—
Ira Winderman,
Sun Sentinel,
19 May 2025
Adjective
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Increasing productivity while reducing employee time spent conducting menial tasks and improving operating margins.—
Erin Tavgac,
Forbes.com,
30 May 2025
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Like any other institution, the church and its 1.4 billion followers can benefit from artificial intelligence — by using it to streamline menial tasks, conduct deep research and tackle massive data computation.—
Motoko Rich,
New York Times,
15 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Servile.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/servile. Accessed 11 Jun. 2025.
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