A word a day

Sequacious

adjective: intellectually servile

"Fund investors are not simply sequacious followers of yield, but are also responding to the federal government's actions to stabilize the macro-economic environment." — From an article by Matthew Sheahan in High Yield Report, January 12, 2009

"Sequacious" is formed from the Latin "sequac-," or "sequax" (which means "inclined to follow" and comes from "sequi," "to follow") and the English "-ious." The original and now archaic meaning of "sequacious" was "inclined to follow" or "subservient." Although that meaning might as easily describe someone who willingly dropped into line behind a war leader, or who was unusually compliant or obedient in any sense, the concept gradually narrowed into the image of someone who blindly adopts ideas without much thought. Labeling a person "sequacious" is not very complimentary, and implies a slavish willingness to adopt a thought or opinion.

One of the symptoms of an approaching
nervous breakdown is the belief that
one's work is terribly important.

-- Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)}