slavish

See also: Slavish

English

Etymology

slave +‎ -ish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsleɪvɪʃ/
• Rhymes: -eɪvɪʃ

Adjective

slavish (comparative more slavish, superlative most slavish)

1. in the manner of a slave; abject
   • 1820, [Walter Scott], chapter XV, in The Abbot. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, page 344:

     “You have freed them from higher restraint, Halbert,” answered the Abbot, “and therein taught them to rebel against your own.” / “Fear not that, Edward,” exclaimed Halbert, who never gave his brother his monastic name of Ambrosius; “none obey the command of real duty so well as those who are free from the observance of slavish bondage.”

2. utterly faithful; totally lacking originality, creativity, or reflection

   a slavish reproduction

   slavish observation of rules

Derived terms

• slavishly

Translations

in the manner of a slave

• Bulgarian: робски (bg) (robski)
• Czech: otrocký
• Dutch: slaafs (nl)
• Finnish: orjamainen (fi), orjallinen (fi)
• German: sklavisch
• Greek:

  Ancient: δούλιος (doúlios)

• Irish: moghach
• Latin: servīlis
• Polish: niewolniczy (pl)
• Portuguese: servil (pt)
• Russian: ра́бский (ru) (rábskij), покорный (ru) (pokornyj)
• Swedish: slavisk (sv), trälaktig (sv)