chattel

[ chat-l ]

/ ˈtʃæt l /

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See synonyms for: chattel / chattels on Thesaurus.com

noun

Law.Often chattels . a movable article of personal property.

Often chattels . any article of tangible property other than land, buildings, and other things annexed to land.

a human being considered to be property; an enslaved person.

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Origin of chattel

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English chatel, from Old French; see cattle

synonym study for chattel

1. See property.

Words nearby chattel

chat show, Chatsworth House, Chattagam, Chattahoochee, Chattanooga, chattel, chattel house, chattel mortgage, chattel slavery, chatter, chatterati

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use chattel in a sentence

Maybe no one will be the “husband” (as in, animal husbandry) and no one the chattel.
Were Christians Right About Gay Marriage All Along?|Jay Michaelson|May 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Until 1865—less than 150 years ago—it was legal under the United States Constitution to own black people as chattel.
Eight Things Every White Person Should Know About White Privilege|Sally Kohn|May 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Likely because of his own faith, Carter tries—and fails—to excuse the biblical mandate for reducing women to chattel.
Jimmy Carter Was a Lot Better President Than Almost Anyone Ever Admits|David Masciotra|April 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Within a century, chattel slavery ceased to exist in virtually every modern nation.
How Blacks Freed Themselves from Slavery|Eric Herschthal|February 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Men, women, and children are stripped naked and inspected like chattel, and later, lynched with impunity.
‘12 Years a Slave,’ Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender, Is Mesmerizing|Marlow Stern|August 31, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The statutes require that chattel mortgages should be acknowledged and recorded.
Putnam's Handy Law Book for the Layman|Albert Sidney Bolles
The discharge and foreclosure of mortgages on vessels are governed for the most part by the rules that apply to chattel mortgages.
Putnam's Handy Law Book for the Layman|Albert Sidney Bolles
Their form remains just what it was when woman was esteemed a pretty, desirable, and incidentally a child-producing, chattel.
The New Machiavelli|Herbert George Wells
He was in th' chattel morgedge business on week days an' he was a Spiritulist on Sunday.
Mr. Dooley Says|Finley Dunne
I should say the same of a slave; he is a chattel owned by me; he is saved for my advantage, therefore I am indebted for him.
L. Annaeus Seneca On Benefits|Seneca

British Dictionary definitions for chattel

chattel

/ (ˈtʃætəl) /

noun

(often plural) property law

chattel personal an item of movable personal property, such as furniture, domestic animals, etc
chattel real an interest in land less than a freehold, such as a lease

goods and chattels personal property

Word Origin for chattel

C13: from Old French chatel personal property, from Medieval Latin capitāle wealth; see capital 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

chattel

Origin of chattel

synonym study for chattel

Words nearby chattel

Words related to chattel

How to use chattel in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for chattel

Word Origin for chattel