bondage
Americannoun
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slavery or involuntary servitude; serfdom.
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the state of being bound by or subjected to some external power or control.
- Synonyms:
- imprisonment, confinement, captivity, thralldom
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the state or practice of being physically restrained, as by being tied up, chained, or put in handcuffs, for sexual gratification.
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Early English Law. personal subjection to the control of a superior; villeinage.
noun
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slavery or serfdom; servitude
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Also called: villeinage. (in medieval Europe) the condition and status of unfree peasants who provided labour and other services for their lord in return for holdings of land
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a sexual practice in which one partner is physically bound
Related Words
See slavery.
Etymology
Origin of bondage
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Anglo-Latin bondagium. See bond 2, -age
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.
The history of slavery under Islam involved multiple forms of bondage that stretched across continents and generations.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 10, 2025
It is well known that the 14th Amendment revolutionized our Constitution, changing a document that sanctioned bondage into one that promised liberation and equal citizenship.
From Slate • Apr. 19, 2024
In Brazil's penal code, the definition of slavery is not just forced labour, it's also debt bondage, degrading work conditions and long hours that risk workers' health.
From BBC • Mar. 31, 2024
The wrapping marks, cut into the clay like a memory made concrete, oscillate between signs of painful bondage and a warm embrace, a tension both social and artistic in 1970s Korean culture.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 15, 2024
Said I, “You shall find, sir, that whoever takes such a measure and releases us from bondage will be amply rewarded with the most zealous of followers.”
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
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.
