me´ni|al|ly

me|ni|al «MEE nee uhl, MEEN yuhl», adjective, noun.

–adj.

belonging to or suited to a servant; low; mean: »

Cinderella had to do menial tasks. Her ladyship was of humble, I have even heard menial, station originally (Thackeray).

SYNONYM(S): servile, slavish.

–n.

1. a servant who does the humblest and most unpleasant tasks: »

I worked for a menial's hire, Only to learn, dismayed, That any wage I had asked for Life, Life would have paid (Jessie B. Rittenhouse).

2. a low, mean, or servile person.

╂[< Anglo-French menial < meiniée, variant of Old French meisniee household < Vulgar Latin mansiōnāta < Latin mānsiō, -ōnis habitation; see etym. under mansion (Cf. ↑mansion)]

–me´ni|al|ly, adverb.