subservient

1. 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”

   Similarsubordinate
2. 2.

   serving or acting as a means or aid

   “instrumental in solving the crime”

   Synonymsimplementalinstrumental

   Similarhelpful
3. 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”

   “she has become submissive and subservient”

   Synonymsslavishsubmissive

   Similarservile

Questions about subservient

What does subservient mean?

subservient means "compliant and obedient to authority". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in subservient?

subservient has 4 syllables: sub-ser-vi-ent. The stress falls on "ser". In IPA it is /səbˈsɝviənt/.

What is another word for subservient?

Close synonyms include implemental, instrumental, slavish, submissive. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is subservient a common word?

subservient is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.