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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of menial
Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 10 Dec. 2024
My character obviously came up doing more menial jobs in this.
—Lynette Rice, Deadline, 9 Dec. 2024
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
In fact, the vast majority of the it is spent walking around each locale, looking for ways to progress or solving minor puzzles and other menial tasks.
—Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 10 Dec. 2024
My character obviously came up doing more menial jobs in this.
—Lynette Rice, Deadline, 9 Dec. 2024
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
-
Liang Wenfeng hires young people and bookworms for his engineering team, and is described as a humble and nerdy leader.—
Emma Burleigh,
Fortune,
31 Jan. 2025
-
Amy Schumer isn't just humble about her fame, she's shocked by it.—
Ryan Coleman,
EW.com,
30 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
Yet Ariel soon grows concerned that Moretti’s servants and sycophants on his massive swath of remote land act more like cult members than superfans and, of course, dark secrets await.—
William Earl,
Variety,
27 Jan. 2025
-
These pardons are essential to protecting the public servants and law enforcement who defended our democracy and worked tirelessly to keep us safe.—
Justin Gest,
Newsweek,
20 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
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
-
These officials could, in turn, redistribute some of their private goods among their own servile lieutenants, but the monarch retained ultimate power to grant or revoke their privileged status.—
Serhiy Kudelia,
Foreign Affairs,
27 Feb. 2014
Adjective
-
Flip-up covers on the front and rear boxes open up a pair of rather meek storage areas for carrying your shopping bags around, and the rear cover makes a small concession to comfort, revealing a half-inch thick seat pad when it's fully flipped open.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
11 Jan. 2025
-
The evil John Paul was dead, killed not by one of his four sisters-in-law — each of whom had a compelling motive to commit murder — but by his seemingly meek wife, Grace, fed up by years of abusive behavior.—
Meredith Blake,
Los Angeles Times,
24 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near menial
Cite this Entry
“Menial.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/menial. Accessed 8 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share