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

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

From Salon • Aug. 16, 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

“There are indentured servants in this zoo called beastkeepers,” he said.

From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray