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.
Held in subjection; dependent; enslaved. Even fortune rules no more, O servile land! Pope.
Not belonging to the original root; as, a servile letter.
Not itself sounded, but serving to lengthen the preceeding vowel, as e in tune.
An element which forms no part of the original root; -- opposed to radical.
98,828 entries. Headwords are matched first, then definition text.