servitude
[sur-vi-tood, -tyood]
- slavery or bondage of any kind: political or intellectual servitude.
- compulsory service or labor as a punishment for criminals: penal servitude.
- Law. a right possessed by one person to use another's property.
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Origin of servitude
1425–75; late Middle English < Late Latin servitūdō, equivalent to servi-, combining form of servus slave + -tūdō, -tude
Synonyms
See more synonyms for servitude on Thesaurus.com1. serfdom, thralldom. See slavery.
Antonyms
1. liberty.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for servitude
Contemporary Examples
Trapped in the cycle of permanent emergency and perpetual action, he wrote, “servitude has no rest, agitation no pleasure.”
But the rush to replace words with images may be preparing us for servitude.
“I tried to kill myself twice,” says Atia, now 14 and still living in servitude.
Historical Examples
Through what medium can the idea of servitude enter their minds?
The New Adam and Eve (From "Mosses From An Old Manse")Nathaniel Hawthorne
And so may the temple fall with its deity of falsehood and servitude!
The Three Cities Trilogy, CompleteEmile Zola
But it by no means follows that the domination of servitude must, or even can, be perpetual.
FreelandTheodor Hertzka
What wonder that we can live like masters, notwithstanding that servitude is not known in Freeland!
FreelandTheodor Hertzka
God help the Danes, if they have fallen into servitude among these blackguards!
Homeward BoundJames Fenimore Cooper
servitude
- the state or condition of a slave; bondage
- the state or condition of being subjected to or dominated by a person or thingservitude to drink
- law a burden attaching to an estate for the benefit of an adjoining estate or of some definite personSee also easement
- short for penal servitude
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Word Origin
C15: via Old French from Latin servitūdō, from servus a slave
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for servitude
n.
early 15c., "condition of being enslaved," from Old French servitude, servitute (13c.) and directly from Late Latin servitudo "slavery," from Latin servus "a slave" (see serve (v.)) + abstract noun suffix.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper