slave labor

noun

1. persons, especially a large group, performing labor under duress or threats, as prisoners in a concentration camp; a labor force of slaves or slavelike prisoners.

2. labor done by such a labor force.

3. any coerced or poorly remunerated work.

   Data entry at that salary is slave labor.

Other Word Forms

• slave-labor adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of slave labor¹

First recorded in 1810–20

Example Sentences

“Here you see an early example of the racialized division of labor in the workplace by ‘skill’ and supervision, correlated with slave labor and free labor,” says Alex Lichtenstein, professor of history and American studies at Indiana University.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Even as his own friends were dragged off in the night by the secret police, declared “enemies of the people,” and shipped to slave labor camps, Khrushchev continued to praise his boss.

Read more on Literature

Tim Dillon was scheduled to perform, but was later dropped by the Riyadh festival, he said, because of jokes he made about Saudi Arabia’s alleged use of slave labor.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

His son Alfried and 11 other corporate directors faced charges in a later trial for participating in “the murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, imprisonment, torture, and use for slave labor of civilians.”

Read more on Salon

“It’s not down to paying Canadians less or slave labor or having different governmental incentives,” said Johnston.

Read more on Slate