servile
Servile describes someone who is almost aggressively helpful, like a teacher’s pet who insists on bringing an apple every day even though the teacher doesn’t want it. To call someone servile is an insult.
To remember servile, think of the word servant — they both derive from the Latin servus, "enslaved person." The Servile Wars, for example, refer to slave revolts in the Roman Empire. These days, servile describes someone who is so eager to please that it makes you cringe. If you apologize when someone else steps on your foot, you’re being servile.
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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”synonyms:obsequiousattentive in an ingratiating or servile mannerslavelikesuitable for a slave or servantantonyms:unservilenot servile or submissive
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relating to or involving slaves or appropriate for slaves or servants“Brown's attempt at servile insurrection”“the servile wars of Sicily”“servile work”synonyms:unfreeheld in servitude
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Vocabulary lists containing servile
Brutus is a trusted confidant of the Roman general Julius Caesar, but when he becomes convinced that Caesar's ambitions are a threat to the republic, he plots his friend's assassination.
This list covers some of the basic words in Shakespeare's play about the assassination of the titular Roman ruler. You can find our lists covering more difficult words here. Here are links to our lists for the play: Act I, Act II, Act III, Act IV, and Act V Here are links to our lists for other plays by William Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Hamlet, King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure, Othello, A Midsummer Night's Dream
Written by the influential abolitionist, Douglass's autobiography bears witness to the horrors of slavery.