helotism

[hel-uh-tiz-uhm, hee-luh-]

noun

1. the state or quality of being a helot; serfdom.

2. Ecology.,  the subordinate organisms in an unequal symbiotic relationship.

helotism

/ ˈhiː-, ˈhɛləˌtɪzəm /

noun

1. the condition or quality of being a Helot

2. a sociopolitical system in which a class, minority, nation, etc, is held in a state of subjection

3. zoology another name for dulosis

Word History and Origins

Origin of helotism¹

First recorded in 1815–25; Helot ( def. ) + -ism

Example Sentences

For the majority of the working-class to be thus, as he expresses it, "condemned as it were to perpetual helotism," is not conducive to the health of a nation.

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The theory was benevolent; but practically the institution must have been a two-story commonwealth, somewhat like the old Grecian States which founded liberty on Helotism.

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Here also, in festering, loathsome decay, are the monstrous institutions or customs, which the earth, weary of their infamy and injustice, has refused to sustain—the Helotism of Sparta, the Serfdom of Christian Europe, the Ordeal by Battle, and Algerine Slavery.

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Although it does not fall within the scope of the present work to enter upon a moral or political examination of the condition of Helotism, I may be allowed to subjoin a few observations.

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Her prison discipline requires the Helotism of mind.

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