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slave labor

American  

noun

  1. persons, especially a large group, performing labor under duress or threats, as prisoners in a concentration camp; a labor force of slaves or slavelike prisoners.

  2. labor done by such a labor force.

  3. any coerced or poorly remunerated work.

    Data entry at that salary is slave labor.

Other Word Forms

  • slave-labor adjective

Etymology

Origin of slave labor

First recorded in 1810–20

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.