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Webster 1913 Edition

Adj.

[L.

subserviens

-entis

, p. pr. See

Fitted or disposed to subserve; useful in an inferior capacity; serving to promote some end; subordinate; hence, servile, truckling.

Scarce ever reading anything which he did not make

subservient

in one kind or other.

Bp. Fell.

These ranks of creatures are

subservient

one to another.

Ray.

Their temporal ambition was wholly

subservient

to their proselytizing spirit.

Burke.

Adj.

[L. subserviens.] Useful as an instrument to promote a purpose;serving to promote some end.

Hammond had an incredible dexterity, scarcely ever reading any thing which he did not make subservient in one kind or other.

Subordinate; acting as a subordinate instrument. These are the creatures of God, subordinate to him, and subservient to his will.

These ranks of creatures are subservient one to another.