different between servile vs sordid

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin serv?lis, from servus (“slave”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?s??(?).?va?l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?s??.v?l/, /?s??.?va?l/

Adjective

servile (comparative more servile, superlative most servile)

1. of or pertaining to a slave.
2. submissive or slavish.

3. (grammar) Not belonging to the original root.

4. (grammar) Not sounded, but serving to lengthen the preceding vowel, like the e in tune.

Antonyms

• (submissive or slavish): authoritarian, arrogant

Derived terms

• servility

Related terms

• serve
• servant
• slave

Translations

Noun

servile (plural serviles)

1. (grammar) An element which forms no part of the original root.
2. A slave; a menial.

Antonyms

• radical

Anagrams

• leviers, relives, reviles, veilers

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin serv?lis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s??.vil/

Adjective

servile (plural serviles)

1. servile, slavish, subservient

Related terms

• serf
• servilement
• servilité
• servir

Further reading

• “servile” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• leviers, lièvres, livrées

Italian

Etymology

From Latin serv?lis.

Adjective

servile

1. servile

Related terms

• servire
• servitù
• servo

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ser?u?i?.le/, [s??r?u?i????]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ser?vi.le/, [s?r?vi?l?]

Etymology 1

Neuter adverbial accusative use of serv?lis (“servile, slavish”).

Adverb

serv?le (not comparable)

1. (rare) like a slave, slavishly, servilely

Synonyms

• serv?liter

Etymology 2

Adjective

serv?le

1. nominative neuter singular of serv?lis
2. accusative neuter singular of serv?lis
3. vocative neuter singular of serv?lis

English

Etymology

Latin sordidus, from sord?re (“be dirty”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?s??.d?d/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?s??d?d/
• Homophone: sorted (in some varieties)

Adjective

sordid (comparative sordider, superlative sordidest)

1. Distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible.
2. Dirty or squalid.
3. Morally degrading.
   • 1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl

     He rode slowly home along the deserted road, watching the stars come out in the clear violet sky. They flashed softly into the limpid heavens, like jewels let fall into clear water. They were a reproach, he felt, to a sordid world.

   • 1994, The Lion King, Be Prepared musical number:

     I know it sounds sordid but you'll be rewarded, when at last I've been given my dues.

   • 2006, John C. Roberts, concurrence and dissent in part in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry, 548 U.S. 399 (2006)

     It is a sordid business, this divvying us up by race.

4. Grasping; stingy; avaricious.
5. Of a dull colour.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:greedy, Thesaurus:unclean

Derived terms

• sordidity
• sordidly
• sordidness

Translations

Anagrams

• 'droids, disord, dorids, droids

Estonian

Noun

sordid

1. nominative plural of sort

Romanian

Etymology

From French sordide, from Latin sordidus.

Adjective

sordid m or n (feminine singular sordid?, masculine plural sordizi, feminine and neuter plural sordide)

1. sordid

Declension