obsequious : quote of the week #2
This Week's Word: obsequiousAWAD archive date: Thu Jan 27 00:04:21 EST 2000obsequious
USAGE NOTES servile, slavish, subservient
If you want to get ahead with your boss, you might trying being obsequious, which suggests an attitude of inferiority that may or may not be genuine, but that is assumed in order to placate a superior in hopes of getting what one wants (a “goody two shoes” whose obsequious behavior made everyone in the class cringe). While subservient may connote similar behavior, it is more often applied to those who are genuinely subordinate or dependent and act accordingly (a timid, subservient child who was terrified of making a mistake). Servile is a stronger and more negative term, suggesting a cringing submissiveness (the dog's servile obedience to her master). Slavish, suggesting the status or attitude of a slave, is often used to describe strict adherence to a set of rules or a code of conduct (a slavish adherence to the rules of etiquette).
The Oxford Pocket Thesaurus of Current English , 2006. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1O998-obsequious.html [ Accessed 15 Nov 2006]
Current theme: words that have reversed their meaning.
USAGE NOTES servile, slavish, subservient
If you want to get ahead with your boss, you might trying being obsequious, which suggests an attitude of inferiority that may or may not be genuine, but that is assumed in order to placate a superior in hopes of getting what one wants (a “goody two shoes” whose obsequious behavior made everyone in the class cringe). While subservient may connote similar behavior, it is more often applied to those who are genuinely subordinate or dependent and act accordingly (a timid, subservient child who was terrified of making a mistake). Servile is a stronger and more negative term, suggesting a cringing submissiveness (the dog's servile obedience to her master). Slavish, suggesting the status or attitude of a slave, is often used to describe strict adherence to a set of rules or a code of conduct (a slavish adherence to the rules of etiquette).
The Oxford Pocket Thesaurus of Current English , 2006. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1O998-obsequious.html [ Accessed 15 Nov 2006]
Current theme: words that have reversed their meaning.