Menial
['miːnɪəl] or ['minjəl]
Definition
(n.) Belonging to a retinue or train of servants; performing servile office; serving.
(n.) Pertaining to servants, esp. domestic servants; servile; low; mean.
(n.) A domestic servant or retainer, esp. one of humble rank; one employed in low or servile offices.
(n.) A person of a servile character or disposition.
Checked by Douglas
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. Servile, slavish, low, mean, base, abject, vile, sorry.
n. Servant, domestic, waiter, lackey, underling, flunkey, understrapper, valet, footman, slave, Helot, serf, bondsman.
Checked by Helena
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Domestic, attendant, dependent, servile, drudge
ANT:Paramount, sovereign, supreme, lordly, independent, uncontrolled, autocratic
Editor: Randolph
Definition
adj. of or pertaining to a train of servants: doing servile work: low.—n. a domestic servant: one performing servile work: a person of servile disposition.
Typist: Sean
Examples
- I consider his planting one of his menial tools in the yard, an act of sneaking and sniffing. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- But as the Roman Empire grew, its armies absorbed its intelligent farmers, the tilling of the soil was left to the menial and the slave, and the Empire and agriculture declined together. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- Means are menial, the serviceable is servile. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- The Knight had scarcely finished a hasty meal, ere his menial announced to him that five men, each leading a barbed steed, desired to speak with him. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- The labour of menial servants does not continue the existence of the fund which maintains and employs them. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- Secondly, it seems, on this account, altogether improper to consider artificers, manufacturers, and merchants, in the same light as menial servants. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- The labour of the menial servant, on the contrary, does not fix or realize itself in any particular subject or vendible commodity. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- That oriental menial had a wretched life under the tyranny of Jos Sedley. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- The labour of a menial servant, on the contrary, adds to the value of nothing. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- They are only servants who work without doors, as menial servants work within. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- But the maintenance of a menial servant never is restored. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- A man grows rich by employing a multitude of manufacturers; he grows poor by maintaining a multitude or menial servants. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- This deep-toned inquiry was cast forth into the night, for response from the menial in question. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Next (to clear the ground before coming to business), you've placed in this yard a skulking, a sneaking, and a sniffing, menial. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of a menial, who announced that a monk demanded admittance at the postern gate. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- Those menials having obeyed the mandate, Edward Dorrit, Esquire, proceeded. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- Raymond gave her his ring to ensure the respect of the menials. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Youths, nobles of the land, performed for the sake of mother or sister, the services of menials with amiable cheerfulness. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- When, however, social pride and luxurious city life became the dominant passions, agriculture was left to menials, and the art gradually faded with the State. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- I don't want menials. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
Inputed by George