subservience.

An attitude of excessive obedience to someone seen as more powerful.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• subservience to authority
• demand subservience

On the page

The director mistook courtesy for subservience and was startled by her refusal.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: Usually uncountable; no ordinary plural in this sense. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: moderately common.