as in humble
showing, expressing, or offered in a spirit of humility or unseemly submissiveness
every command was obeyed in the menial manner of someone who seemed grateful just to be in the presence of a celebrity
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in servant
a person hired to perform household or personal services
immigrants to that country faced fierce prejudice and could expect to find work only as menials
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of menial
Laura Washington, Chicago Tribune, 5 Feb. 2025
Today, with little government support – which was cut off during British colonial rule in favor of formal schools – many of the children don’t receive formal education beyond learning to recite from the Quran and are left to survive by begging or working menial jobs.
—Ogar Monday, The Christian Science Monitor, 4 Feb. 2025
Peter Charalambous, ABC News, 25 Apr. 2023
Introducing artificial intelligence into your business can help you to minimize the menial.
—Expert Panel®, Forbes, 1 June 2022
See All Example Sentences for menial
Adjective
Under Trump, immigrants who have lived in this nation for decades, worked diligently at menial jobs, raised families, paid their taxes, have been convicted of no crimes, are being hunted down like animals and deported.
—Laura Washington, Chicago Tribune, 5 Feb. 2025
Today, with little government support – which was cut off during British colonial rule in favor of formal schools – many of the children don’t receive formal education beyond learning to recite from the Quran and are left to survive by begging or working menial jobs.
—Ogar Monday, The Christian Science Monitor, 4 Feb. 2025
Noun
Despite the national security risk articulated by politicians and federal law enforcement officials, some users see the risk as menial compared to other social media platforms.
—Peter Charalambous, ABC News, 25 Apr. 2023
Introducing artificial intelligence into your business can help you to minimize the menial.
—Expert Panel®, Forbes, 1 June 2022
See All Example Sentences for menial
Recent Examples of Synonyms for menial
Adjective
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Assuming every other factor is the same, a bigger home with high-end materials will almost always cost more than one with a smaller floor plan and more humble finishes.—
Katherine McLaughlin,
Architectural Digest,
11 Mar. 2025
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Some come from humble backgrounds, and modeling is something that totally changes their lives.—
Aamina Inayat Khan,
StyleCaster,
11 Mar. 2025
Noun
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While public money was spent on converting former servants quarters into a family home, the interior decor was paid for privately.—
Mark Davis,
Newsweek,
16 Mar. 2025
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There, a plaque remembers Anne Glover, an Irish servant who was falsely accused of witchcraft and executed.—
Michele Herrmann,
Forbes,
15 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Trump’s servile devotion to Putin becomes the new norm overnight as Republicans cower in support of Trump’s new Putin policy.—
Bob Kustra,
Chicago Tribune,
7 Mar. 2025
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His co-stars, like Will Ferrell’s savage Mugatu, Owen Wilson’s stoner hottie Hansel, and Nathan Lee Graham’s servile Todd — all so precise and well-defined in the original’s ravelike milieu — are doomed to retrace their old steps here.—
Sean Malin,
Vulture,
5 Sep. 2024
Adjective
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The character, who started as a seemingly meek Secret Service agent of questionable talent, turned out to be a highly skilled assassin of questionable sanity.—
Kimberly Roots,
TVLine,
6 Mar. 2025
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Less impressive was the following game, a meek 0-1 loss to West Ham United, which ended the quest for a Premier League title and renewed the striker debate like never before.—
Zak Garner-Purkis,
Forbes,
26 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Menial.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/menial. Accessed 24 Mar. 2025.
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