SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
servile
adjective
Showing an excessive and self-lowering eagerness to obey.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Excessively submissive
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topServile condemns an excessive lowering of oneself. Deferential can be respectful without excessive submission, and ingratiating aims to gain favor.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See servile in use
The editor preferred honest disagreement to servile praise.
Another volunteer showed a servile eagerness to obey, offering to abandon every personal commitment before anyone had asked for extra help.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license