chattel
Americannoun
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Law. Often chattels a movable article of personal property.
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Often chattels any article of tangible property other than land, buildings, and other things annexed to land.
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a human being considered to be property; an enslaved person.
noun
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(often plural) property law
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an item of movable personal property, such as furniture, domestic animals, etc
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an interest in land less than a freehold, such as a lease
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personal property
Synonym Usage
See property.
Etymology
Origin of chattel
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English chatel, from Old French; see cattle
Explanation
All that stuff in your room? The books, posters, dirty sneakers and all of your other personal belongings? That's what we call chattel. Chattel refers to personal items, as opposed to actual land property. It was once used to describe slaves and cattle, which is why referring to something or someone as chattel isn't very nice — you're essentially saying they're just property, somehow less than human. Despite the fact that chattel is an outdated word these days, it's probably still safe to call your bottle cap collection worthless chattel.
Vocabulary lists containing chattel
To Kill a Mockingbird
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
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"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 19–24
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Within months of her 1836 arrival in New York, Ernestine Rose, a Polish-born rabbi’s daughter, began traveling around the United States condemning women’s subjugation, economic inequality, organized religion, and chattel slavery.
From Slate ● Apr. 10, 2025
Mortgage loans typically offer lower interest rates than chattel loans — around 6%, versus as much as 10% or 15% for personal property loans — and offer the borrower longer repayment terms.
From Salon ● Mar. 16, 2025
It has been 159 years since the 13th Amendment was ratified, ending chattel slavery.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 15, 2024
Jim Downs: How did formerly enslaved people survive hours after they fled from chattel slavery?
From Scientific American ● Nov. 2, 2023
There were many freemen in South Carolina who’d relocated for the so-called opportunities, but they’d served their time as chattel.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
