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

Waves of Indians migrated to East Africa around that time, as teachers, clerks, merchants and indentured workers.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 25, 2025

They and their families are expendable indentured servants on a rock enrobed in perpetual darkness.

From Salon • Aug. 16, 2024

To me, indentured wealth feels like something that should be disbanded.

From Los Angeles Times • May 28, 2024

Fifteen-year-old Joyce was captured along with everyone else onboard—a mix of other indentured servants, merchants, and crew–and taken to a slave market in Algiers to be sold at auction.

From National Geographic • Jan. 11, 2024

Molly has decided to think of this job as indentured servitude: each hour she works is another hour closer to freedom.

From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline