Subservient means behaving as though you're less important than someone else, being too eager to obey and please them. When someone acts subservient, they treat another person like a master or superior, often losing their own sense of independence and self-respect in the process.

You might see this when one student in a group project becomes subservient to another, always agreeing with their ideas and never offering their own thoughts, even when they have good suggestions. In historical contexts, enslaved people were forced into subservient positions, required to obey their enslavers without question. In some old-fashioned households, wives were expected to be subservient to their husbands, a relationship most modern people recognize as unfair and unhealthy.

The word has a negative feeling to it. There's a difference between being respectful or cooperative and being subservient. Respecting your teacher means listening to instructions and working hard, but you don't need to act like a servant or agree with everything they say. A subservient person goes beyond respect into a kind of excessive obedience that sacrifices their own dignity and voice.