indentured

American  

[in-den-cherd] / ɪnˈdɛn tʃərd /

adjective

1. bound by or occurring under a written contract or formal agreement, especially to work for another.

   The five indentured electrical apprentices of the second-year class were sworn into the union on Thursday.

   Born in Belfast in 1949, he studied art while serving an indentured apprenticeship at a shipyard.

2. relating to, done by, or being an indentured servant.

   Molly Welsh, an Englishwoman sentenced to indentured servitude in 17th-century Maryland, married an African slave named Bannaka.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of indenture.

Other Word Forms

• unindentured adjective

Etymology

Origin of indentured

indenture + -ed ²

Example Sentences

As the conversation gets rolling, she digs into her roots, explaining that her maternal grandmother was an illiterate indentured servant.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 21, 2025

“Obviously the banjo’s got African roots too. Country music came from people in the South and Appalachia, slaves and indentured servants from Europe, each gathering and trading stories.”

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 4, 2024

But the early modern economies in sugar, tobacco and gold generated empire-building profit for Europe and the early U.S. by means of enslavement and indentured servitude.

From Salon • Aug. 21, 2024

A son of a once wealthy merchant family, Joyce was being sent to the West Indies to start his new life as an indentured servant.

From National Geographic • Jan. 11, 2024

“I’m Polly. I was an indentured girl. I ran off with Amari and Tidbit because . . .” She paused.

From "Copper Sun" by Sharon M. Draper