25 January 2018

slavish

[sley-vish]

adjective

1. of or befitting a slave :
slavish subjection.
2. being or resembling a slave; abjectly submissive:
He was slavish in his obedience.
3. base; mean; ignoble:
slavish fears.
4. deliberately imitative; lacking originality:
a slavish reproduction.

Origin of slavish

1555-1565 First recorded in 1555-65; slave + -ish1

Related forms

slavishly, adverb
slavishness, noun
overslavish, adjective
overslavishly, adverb
overslavishness, noun

Synonyms

2. groveling, sycophantic, fawning, cringing. See servile.

Antonyms

2. independent. 3. exalted.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for slavish

Contemporary Examples

DC Comics uses a slavish adherence to the status quo to prevent anything socially progressive from taking place on its pages.
DC Comics’ Diversity Crisis: Why the Status Quo Rules
Liz Watson
July 20, 2014

She must whitewash these brown men and women, rid them of their savage, slavish ways, and repaint them in her own image.
The Abused Wives of Westeros: A Song of Feminism in ‘Game of Thrones’
Amy Zimmerman
April 30, 2014

Zaks had to find the delicate poise between vivid restating and slavish reenactment.
New York’s Greatest Show Or How They Did Not Screw Up ‘Guys and Dolls’
Ross Wetzsteon
April 6, 2014

Today’s quote

Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.

– Albert Einstein

On this day

25 January 1947 – Infamous gangster, Al Capone, dies of pneumonia and heart failure. He was born on 17 January 1899.

25 January 1971 – Ugandan General, Idi Amin seizes power while President Milton Obote is away. Amin’s brutal, 8-year dictatorship resulted in the murders of between 100,000 to 500,000 people. In 1979, Amin fled to Libya and later to Saudi Arabia, where he remained until his death on 16 August 2003.

25 January 1974 – Record flooding in Brisbane caused by Tropical Cyclone Wanda. During a 36 hour period, 642mm fell on Brisbane city, causing the deaths of 14 people, and flooding at least 6,700 houses.