Meaning

Of or relating to work normally performed by a servant..

Definitions by Sense

1. Of or relating to work normally performed by a servant.
2. Of or relating to unskilled work.
3. Servile; low; mean.
4. A servant, especially a domestic servant.
5. A person who has a subservient nature.

Example Sentences

She hung round him, watching his every look as if she grudged the veriest menial offices from the servants; and she almost scolded him for not eating, when he had done justice enough to the good things set before him to have satisfied even the cook herself.

She was not proposing to go out again, so he got her slippers and took off her boots. It delighted him to perform menial offices.

menial job

Father Brown took the paper without a word, and obediently went to look for the coat; it was not the first menial work he had done in his life.

I didn't see how sweeping and scrubbing a building was any preparation for the trade of electrician; but I did know that in the books all the boys started with the most menial tasks and by making good ultimately won to the ownership of the whole concern.

For instance, controlling for the above-mentioned variables, migrants to Tangerang or Samarinda (rather than Medan) have a significantly greater chance of getting a craft (as opposed to menial) job.

a menial wretch

“Nay, Dame Mary,” answered the Knight, “it is enough you desire such an attendant.—Yet I have never loved to nurse such useless menials—a lady's page—it may well suit the proud English dames to have a slender youth to bear their trains from bower to hall, fan them when they slumber, and touch the lute for them when they please to listen; […]”

Word Forms

• more menial
• most menial
• menials

Synonyms for menial

Related Words

When Should You Use Menial?

Use menial when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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