Synonyms of subservient

subservient

adjective

1

as in subordinate

very willing to obey someone else

She was an equal partner in the marriage and not a subservient wife.

Synonyms & Similar Words

• subordinate
• obedient
• passive
• servile
• submissive
• obsequious
• docile
• slavish
• controllable
• dutiful
• compliant
• fawning
• acquiescent
• conformable
• meek
• amenable
• obeisant
• biddable
• amiable
• tractable
• obliging
• governable
• kowtowing
• agreeable
• restrained
• resigned
• decorous
• constrained
• surrendering
• gentle
• law-abiding
• repressed
• duteous
• placable
• yielding
• soft
• orderly
• unresistant
• disciplined
• inhibited
• manageable
• mannerly
• tame
• mild
• trainable
• teachable
• curbed
• handleable
• disciplinable

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• contrary
• recalcitrant
• rebellious
• defiant
• refractory
• disobedient
• wilful
• willful
• insubordinate
• wayward
• unruly
• intractable
• restive
• ungovernable
• obstreperous
• noncompliant
• contumacious
• rebel
• mutinous
• stubborn
• balky
• obstinate
• obdurate
• unyielding
• untoward
• headstrong
• uncontrollable
• resistant
• peevish
• insurgent
• hardheaded
• unamenable
• wild
• mulish
• unmanageable
• perverse
• dogged
• incompliant
• bad
• froward
• mischievous
• pigheaded
• naughty
• self-willed
• disorderly
• errant
• undisciplined
• insolent
• disrespectful
• impudent
• nonconformist
• dissident
• rude
• impolite
• misbehaving
• ill-bred
• ill-mannered

2

as in secondary

having a less important role, job, or place as something else

The employees used to build things by hand but now were subservient to automated equipment that handled much of production.

Synonyms & Similar Words

• subordinate
• secondary
• inferior
• added
• subsidiary
• marginal
• ancillary
• peripheral
• auxiliary
• supplementary
• accessory
• additional
• supplemental
• appurtenant
• assistant
• further
• assisting
• substitute
• makeshift
• complementary
• accessorial
• backup
• supportive
• contributory
• helping
• tributary
• another
• adjuvant

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• necessary
• essential
• integral
• vital
• imperative
• basic
• required
• primary
• fundamental
• requisite
• prime
• indispensable
• main
• needful
• needed
• all-important
• chief
• principal

Synonym Chooser

How is the word subservient distinct from other similar adjectives?

Some common synonyms of subservient are obsequious, servile, and slavish. While all these words mean "showing or characterized by extreme compliance or abject obedience," subservient implies the cringing manner of one very conscious of a subordinate position.

domestic help was expected to be properly subservient

When could obsequious be used to replace subservient?

In some situations, the words obsequious and subservient are roughly equivalent. However, obsequious implies fawning or sycophantic compliance and exaggerated deference of manner.

waiters who are obsequious in the presence of celebrities

When is it sensible to use servile instead of subservient?

The meanings of servile and subservient largely overlap; however, servile suggests the mean or fawning behavior of a slave.

a political boss and his entourage of servile hangers-on

Where would slavish be a reasonable alternative to subservient?

The words slavish and subservient can be used in similar contexts, but slavish suggests abject or debased servility.

the slavish status of migrant farm workers

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of subservient

The movement teaches that women should be subservient to their husbands and that followers should shun dancing, dating and much of pop culture, People magazine previously reported. —Stephanie Nolasco, Fox News, 14 Jan. 2025

But Optimus, who in the video seems more than happy to be at his mistress’s beck and call, appears less subservient in a series of pictures in which Kardashian, wearing spike heels and lingerie, poses beside him and a gold Tesla Cybercab. —Naomi Fry, The New Yorker, 21 Dec. 2024

As an angry teenager who develops a passionate hatred for everything about her life, particularly her stooped, seemingly subservient mother, Inseon runs away to Seoul, falls through a snowbank into a pit, and nearly dies. —Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 14 Jan. 2025

Entertainment Weekly has your exclusive look at the latest trailer (above), which reveals for the first time that Josh's girlfriend Iris (Heretic's Sophie Thatcher) is an android designed to be the perfect, subservient partner. —Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 8 Jan. 2025