Adjacent Words

Subservient definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SUBSERV'IENT, a. [L. subserviens.] Useful as an instrument to promote a purpose;serving to promote some end.
Hammond had an incredible dexterity, scarcely ever reading any thing which he did not make subservient in one kind or other.
1. Subordinate; acting as a subordinate instrument. These are the creatures of God, subordinate to him, and subservient to his will.
These ranks of creatures are subservient one to another.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: compliant and obedient to authority; "editors and journalists who express opinions in print that are opposed to the interests of the rich are dismissed and replaced by subservient ones"-G. B. Shaw
2: serving or acting as a means or aid; "instrumental in solving the crime" [syn: implemental, instrumental, subservient]
3: abjectly submissive; characteristic of a slave or servant; "slavish devotion to her job ruled her life"; "a slavish yes- man to the party bosses"- S.H.Adams; "she has become submissive and subservient" [syn: slavish, subservient, submissive]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Latin subservient-, subserviens, present participle of subservire Date: circa 1626 1. useful in an inferior capacity ; subordinate 2. serving to promote some end 3. obsequiously submissive ; truckling • subserviently adverb Synonyms: subservient, servile, slavish, obsequious mean showing or characterized by extreme compliance or abject obedience. subservient implies the cringing manner of one very conscious of a subordinate position <domestic help was expected to be properly subservient>. servile suggests the mean or fawning behavior of a slave <a political boss and his entourage of servile hangers-on>. slavish suggests abject or debased servility <the slavish status of migrant farm workers>. obsequious implies fawning or sycophantic compliance and exaggerated deference of manner <waiters who are obsequious in the presence of celebrities>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 cringing; obsequious. 2 (usu. foll. by to) serving as a means; instrumental. 3 (usu. foll. by to) subordinate. Derivatives: subservience n. subserviency n. subserviently adv. Etymology: L subserviens subservient- (as SUBSERVE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Subservient Sub*serv"i*ent, a. [L. subserviens, -entis, p. pr. See Subserve.] Fitted or disposed to subserve; useful in an inferior capacity; serving to promote some end; subordinate; hence, servile, truckling. Scarce ever reading anything which he did not make subservient in one kind or other. --Bp. Fell. These ranks of creatures are subservient one to another. --Ray. Their temporal ambition was wholly subservient to their proselytizing spirit. --Burke.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. If you are subservient, you do whatever someone wants you to do. She is expected to be subservient to her uncle. ADJ: oft ADJ to n • subservience ...an austere regime stressing obedience and subservience to authority. 2. If you treat one thing as subservient to another, you treat it as less important than the other thing. The woman's needs are seen as subservient to the group interest. ADJ: v-link ADJ to n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Subordinate, inferior, subject. 2. Useful, helpful, serviceable, conducive, subsidiary, ancillary, instrumental.

Moby Thesaurus

abject, accepting, accessory, acquiescent, adjuvant, agential, agentival, agentive, agreeable, ancillary, appurtenant, assenting, assistant, assisting, auxiliary, base, client, collateral, common, complaisant, compliable, compliant, complying, conducive, consenting, contributory, cowering, cringing, crouching, deferential, demeaning, dependent, disadvantaged, employable, facilitating, favoring, fawning, feudal, feudatory, forwarding, fostering, handy, helpful, helping, humble, ignoble, in the shade, inferior, infra dig, instrumental, intermediary, junior, less, lesser, liege, low, lower, lowly, mean, mediating, mediatorial, menial, ministerial, ministering, ministrant, minor, modest, nondissenting, nonresistant, nonresisting, nonresistive, nurtural, nutricial, obedient, obeisant, obsequious, on bended knee, ordinary, passive, promoting, prone, prostrate, resigned, second rank, second string, secondary, serviceable, servile, serving, slavish, sub, subaltern, subject, submissive, subordinate, subsidiary, supine, third rank, third string, tributary, truckling, unassertive, uncomplaining, underprivileged, unresistant, unresisting, useful, vassal, vulgar