I. ˈmēnēəl, -nyəl adjective
Etymology: Middle English meynal, meynial, from meynie household, family, retinue (from Old French mesnie, meinie, from — assumed — Vulgar Latin mansionata, from Latin mansion-, mansio dwelling, habitation + -ata -ate) + -al — more at mansion
1.
a. archaic : belonging to or constituting a retinue or train of servants : domestic
stood knight and squire, and menial train — S.T.Coleridge
b. : of or relating to the service of a household : appropriate to a domestic servant
a few Indian women for menial offices — W.H.Prescott
2. : of, relating to, or being work or an occupation or position not requiring special skill or not calling into play the higher intellectual powers or ranking as low in some occupational or social scale and often regarded as lacking dignity, status, or interest : lowly , humble
those who … regard translation as an uninspired and menial occupation have never practiced it — Times Literary Supplement
menial occupations in hotels, laundries, cigar factories — American Guide Series: New York
most menial of stations in that aristocratic old Boston world — V.L.Parrington
encouraged to rise from the menial and mechanical operations of his craft — Lewis Munford
spread from the top down to the most menial levels of the administration — Economist
a relatively menial category to which volunteers without degrees … are generally relegated — Robert Rice
menial tasks
3.
a. : appropriate to a menial : servile
the wealthy nation they had dared speak to only in menial tones for so long — Atlantic
b. : lacking interest or dignity
life for each man had become a menial thing — Robert Lowry
Synonyms: see subservient
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English meynal, meynial, from meynal, meynial, adjective
: a domestic servant or retainer
in the classic period the musician was generally looked upon as a menial — A.E.Wier