subservient

Word family

sub·ser·vi·ent /səbˈsɜːviənt $ -ˈsɜːr-/ adjectiveadj

1 OBEYalways obeying another person and doing everything they want you to do – used when someone seems too weak and powerless 恭顺的，屈从的，卑躬屈膝的〔用于表示某人太软弱无能〕

subservient to

Don remained entirely subservient to his father.

唐一直对他父亲百依百顺。

subservient role/position

His wife refused to accept a traditional subservient role.

他的妻子不愿接受事事顺从的传统角色。

2 formalLESS less important than something else 次要的，从属的 SYN subordinate

subservient to

the rights of the individual are made subservient to the interests of the state

个人权利被要求服从于国家利益。

—subserviently adverbadv

—subservience noun [uncountableU]

Examples from the Corpus

subservient• That is not to say that Parliament was subservient.• The waiter had an excessively subservient manner that made us very uncomfortable.• The truly subservient prisoner is respected by no-one, staff or inmates.• Away from the staff, the subservient prisoner will say what he really thinks.• Then we were off and running with subfreezing temperatures, submerging boats in the water, subservient, subterranean.• This makes them subservient to a moral objective which may be unattainable.• What she hated about being a nurse was having to be so subservient to doctors.• Indeed she is such a kind and caring person that colleagues have questioned whether she is sometimes too subservient to her officials.• But as I have shown, the function of grammar depends upon its being subservient to lexis.• I have yet to hear of any document that says that people are subservient to the government.

subservient to• The regime was subservient to the Soviet Union.

Origin subservient

(1600-1700) Latin present participle of subservire “to serve, be subservient”, from servire “to serve”

sub·ser·vi·ent adjectiveadj

Chinese

Syllable

Corpus