How to Use subservient in a Sentence

subservient

adjective
  • She refused to take a subservient role in their marriage.
  • These kinds of pieces depict — and fetishise — Africans in subservient roles.
    Lisa Ryan, The Cut, 21 Dec. 2017
  • There’s one that dominates and one that has to be subservient.
    Tyler Coates, The Hollywood Reporter, 27 Dec. 2023
  • No one’s right to speak should be subservient to a calendar.
    Jon Caldara, The Denver Post, 18 Mar. 2017
  • For centuries, shame has been used to keep women in subservient roles.
    Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 30 Oct. 2023
  • Even if that's true, Miller had to play his cards the right way and not get crosswise with Kush or be seen as subservient to Arizona.
    Jeff Metcalfe, azcentral, 22 June 2019
  • The role of the musicians was more subservient—just doing their job, like good soldiers.
    Vanityfair.com, VanityFair.com, 8 June 2017
  • Presidents in the 20th century were subservient to the PRI.
    The Economist, 23 June 2018
  • The larger mysteries of the show are subservient to the arc of the central relationship.
    Ben Rosenstock, TIME, 2 Feb. 2024
  • Agriculture and labor leaders protested that the Fed was subservient to bankers, a charge that was echoed in the halls of Congress.
    Christopher W. Shaw, Harper's Magazine, 30 Mar. 2020
  • And in this world, women are shown to be subservient to men, much to the puzzlement of Barbie and the pleased astonishment of Ken.
    Peter Rainer, The Christian Science Monitor, 20 July 2023
  • Think Alexa being subservient and accepting rudeness on the part of the user.
    David Meyer, Fortune, 11 May 2018
  • The world has been transformed by the existence of subservient machines that can do anything a human can do and more.
    Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 24 May 2018
  • She’d be damned if her career was going to be viewed as subservient to anyone’s, no matter how great.
    Chadd Scott, Forbes, 26 Mar. 2023
  • The risks: New sanctions will hurt Iran’s economy, which could cow Iran into a more subservient state.
    Matthew Yglesias, Vox, 11 May 2018
  • The president heads the executive branch but is subservient to the supreme leader.
    Ladane Nasseri, Bloomberg.com, 15 May 2017
  • No motorist should be forced to choose between being subservient and being shot.
    Courtland Milloy, Washington Post, 23 May 2017
  • Without such a market, the Chinese people are subservient to the state and their range of choices limited.
    James A. Dorn, Orange County Register, 4 Feb. 2017
  • That is true of the smaller countries surrounding China but also of the many countries that have long been subservient to the United States.
    Fareed Zakaria, Foreign Affairs, 12 Dec. 2023
  • Duong, skinny, tattooed and shirtless, slouches on the side of a bed in what appears a wary and subservient position.
    Christopher Goffard, Los Angeles Times, 16 Mar. 2023
  • Solo also mined the original film for plot ideas — the subservient status of droids is a good one! — but fell short in the execution.
    Seth Masket, Vox, 1 June 2018
  • Families were diminished, identities were lost, and a woman’s right to her body was subservient to the state.
    Jeffrey Fleishmanstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 9 Aug. 2019
  • And Japan’s robots tend to follow the subservient female gender stereotype.
    Mark Paterson, The Conversation, 26 Jan. 2024
  • The landlocked rump state would be made subservient to Moscow, governed by a puppet regime that lacks any means of pushing back against Russian commands.
    Branislav L. Slantchev, Foreign Affairs, 1 Apr. 2024
  • More legislators used to think for themselves and not be so subservient to party dogma.
    George Skelton, Los Angeles Times, 23 June 2022
  • Torchy had no interest in being a doting, subservient wife.
    oregonlive, 3 Dec. 2019
  • The president and his allies are trying to cow law enforcement officials, making them subservient to him rather than the rule of law.
    Jeet Heer, New Republic, 25 Jan. 2018
  • With the adoption of the golf cart and the departure of Black workers from formerly subservient jobs in the middle of the 20th century, the number of Black caddies plummeted.
    Craig Gill / Made By History, TIME, 13 June 2024
  • Haidt is right: One way to better check these excesses is to reaffirm that truth-seeking is the purpose of the university and should not be made subservient to other goods.
    Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic, 7 July 2017
  • Kim the grandfather, in his time, was completely subservient to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
    Sergey Radchenko, NPR, 19 June 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'subservient.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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