slavish

Adjective (1)

slavish (comparative more slavish, superlative most slavish)

1. In the manner of a slave; abject.
   • “You have freed them from higher restraint, Halbert,” answered the Abbot, “and therein taught them to rebel against your own.” / “Fear not that, Edward,” exclaimed Halbert, who never gave his brother his monastic name of Ambrosius; “none obey the command of real duty so well as those who are free...1820, [Walter Scott], chapter XV, in The Abbot. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and...
   • It is characterized by slavish submission to authority, together with a belief that in that submission the values of scientific thought can be preserved.1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in...
2. Utterly faithful; totally lacking originality, creativity, or reflection.
   • a slavish reproduction
   • slavish observation of rules

Adjective (2) capitalized: Slavish

IPA/ˈslɑːvɪʃ/

Slavish (comparative more Slavish, superlative most Slavish)

1. (archaic) Pertaining to Slavs or the Slavic languages; Slavic.
   • Some time after he proceeded to the University at Prague, in order to prosecute his studies under Professor Czelakowsky, who had removed from Breslau to the University at Prague, as Professor of Slavish languages.1863, Colburn's United Service Magazine, Part I, April, p. 559
   • The great Russians were first merely a mixture of Swedish, Finnish and Slavish peoples.1924, J. E. DeVos, 1500 Years of Europe, p. 400

Noun capitalized: Slavish

IPA/ˈslɑːvɪʃ/

Slavish (uncountable)

1. Any of various Slavic languages, especially Old Church Slavonic.